The stage is set for the high-stakes civic polls in Delhi on Sunday, with poll authorities and security forces all geared up for the elections, largely being seen as a three-way contest among the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
A sombre mood prevailed at the Delhi BJP office ahead of the results, where the party leaders hoped that the exit polls will be proved wrong during the counting of votes.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi House was adjourned for the day on Thursday as ruckus and sloganeering continued over the election of six members of the standing committee.
With the special officer and the new commissioner taking charge, the exercise to reshuffle and reorganise the municipal staff will begin.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, in a statement, said, "The gas leak occurred at the nearby railway tracks."
Mann said that the results in Gujarat, where the party exerted all its efforts to make inroads, will be "surprising".
Party sources claimed that many BJP MLAs and MPs are upset over the chosen candidates, with the party symbol withheld on eight seats due to dispute over ticket distribution.
According to a parliamentary response by the Union health ministry in 2023, around 654,000 families in Delhi are eligible to enrol under the scheme.
Polling for the municipal elections in Delhi will be held on December 4 and votes will be counted on December 7.
Three civil services aspirants died on Saturday after the basement of a building, which was part of a coaching centre, was flooded following heavy rain in central Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar area.
Bobi defeated the Congress' Varuna Dhaka by 6,714 votes to win from Sultanpuri-A ward.
Several BJP leaders had earlier hinted that the party might go for the mayor's post despite losing the civic polls.
Ahead of Kejriwal's visit, drama ensued at the Ghazipur landfill site and roads leading to the area as scores of Bharatiya Janata Party supporters staged a protest, showed black flags and raised slogans against him.
Several members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday night exchanged blows and hurled plastic bottles at each other in the chamber of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House, on a day the city got its new mayor.
The high court said the regulations nowhere reflect that the Delhi mayor has authority to declare the election of Standing Committee members as null and void.
The proceedings began at around 11:20 am and nominated members were first administered the oath by presiding officer Satya Sharma, followed by elected councillors.
'BJP insiders acknowledge that the party needs to be helmed by someone who can match Arvind Kejriwal's stature.' 'A Sudhanshu Trivedi or Bansuri Swaraj could bring the freshness the party needs in Delhi,' points out Aditi Phadnis.
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
Some of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi-run schools are 'horror houses', the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) remarked after it conducted surprise inspection and found them without adequate security and sanitation facilities.
The basement of the coaching Institute in Old Rajendra Nagar where three civil services aspirants died by rain-induced flooding was functioning illegally as a library, officials said on Sunday.
Criticising the police for arresting an SUV driver and blaming him for the incident, the high court said, "Mercifully, you have not challaned the rainwater for entering into the basement."
He asserted that the AAP cared for the people of Delhi and that's why they announced financial assistance for the Resident Welfare Associations to help people ensure better security in their neighbourhood by hiring private security guards.
"What is Delhi Police doing? Have they lost it?" wondered the Delhi high court on Wednesday, while castigating the police for a 'strange' probe by arresting an SUV driver for his alleged role in drowning of three civil services aspirants at a coaching centre.
While Lok Sabha members across party lines demanded an inquiry, hundreds of students continued their protests near Rau's IAS Study Circle in the west Delhi locality where the horror unfolded Saturday night, killing the three students trapped in the basement illegally used as a library as floodwaters rose outside.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The owner and the coordinator of a coaching centre where three civil services aspirants died due to rain-induced flooding in the basement were arrested on Sunday even as protests erupted in the area over the incident.
The police identified the driver and the vehicle through the CCTV footage of the area.
'I have voted in several elections and now this is the first time I have been told that my vote is not here'
The high court also said that Kejriwal's absence cannot allow students to go through the first term without free text books, writing material and uniform in schools under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
A team of the civic body reached the Old Rajinder Nagar area to seal several illegally-run basements of coaching centres, a statement by the Delhi government said.
The interim magisterial inquiry report and the MCD Karol Bagh zone superintending engineer report were submitted to revenue minister Atishi who alleged that the "bureaucracy" was showing "laxity" in investigating the death of the civil services aspirants.
Meanwhile, many BJP members chanted 'Hanuman Chalisa' for several minutes, awaiting resumption of the House.
Delhi's Old Rajinder Nagar, where three students died due to flooding in the basement of a coaching centre last week, was flooded again following a spell of heavy rain on Wednesday.
The first municipal House after the high-stakes civic polls on December 4 is scheduled to take place on Friday during which all newly elected councillors will take oath and the mayor and the deputy mayor will be elected.
Kejriwal's remarks came after the Delhi State Election Commission sought the advice of legal experts on if it can still hold polls for the three municipal corporations here following a communication from the Centre for their unification.
His remarks came after the Union cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill to unify the three civic bodies -- North, East and South -- in Delhi.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to enrol Rohingya refugee children in local schools, saying it was the Centre's domain.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that the decision that Kejriwal should continue to be the chief minister even after being jailed was that of the people of Delhi.
Coaching institutions across the national capital, some lined up in cramped lanes while others housed in lofty buildings in busy commercial areas, are risking the lives of students, with lack of fire safety measures, single entry and exit points, faulty wiring and overloaded electrical circuits among the most common problems.
'They charge such high fees and offer us this safety. Our lives have become a mockery.'
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