New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal met the Delhi Lieutenant Governor on Monday regarding holding early elections in the city.
"After resigning from the Delhi government, we had recommended that elections be held as soon as possible, but the BJP and the Congress are running away from the elections," he said.
"The BJP and the Congress are not interested in forming a government in Delhi. The Supreme Court had said that the Lieutenant Governor can reverse his decision and have an early election in Delhi and that is why we came to meet him today. He has said that he will consider our request," Kejriwal said.
The apex court on March 7 had asked Congress and the BJP to respond whether they were willing to explore the possibility of forming an alternate government in Delhi.
The court adjourned the hearing for two weeks even though both the Congress and BJP wanted that the matter should be taken up hearing after results for the general elections were announced in May.
The court was urged to ask the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to withdraw its petition and make a representation before the Lt. Governor for the reconsideration of his recommendation to place Delhi Assembly under suspended animation.
The AAP has challenged the presidential proclamation of keeping the Assembly in suspended animation despite the Kejriwal government's recommendation for dissolution.
Neither the BJP nor the Congress was inclined or in a position to form the government, thus no purpose would be served by keeping the assembly in a suspended animation, the petition said.
The decision not to dissolve the assembly, the AAP petition said, was taken despite the "categorical recommendation of the majority government of Delhi for dissolving the assembly".
It contended that the decision to keep the assembly under suspended animation was not only "arbitrary and illegal and in violation of the democratic rights of the citizens of Delhi but also malafide".
The motive behind not dissolving the assembly and holding fresh election was to allow the Congress-led central government to rule Delhi after the party had lost in the December 2013 elections, it alleged.
The petition has said contended that "both in the constitution and the Government of NCT Delhi Act, 1991, the power to order dissolution is not mere a discretionary power to be exercised at the whims of the executive government" and the decision not to dissolve the assembly would "thwart the election of the popular government and thus, deny the citizens of Delhi their democratic right to have an elected popular government".
With additional information from IANS
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