Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish SIsodia on Monday claimed that Aam Aadmi Party leader Durgesh Pathak has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning and wondered what the party’s MCD polls in-charge has to do with the now-withdrawn liquor policy case. 

“Today, ED has summoned AAP’s MCD election in-charge Durgesh Pathak. What does our MCD election in-charge have to do with Delhi government’s liquor policy? Is their target the liquor policy or MCD elections?” Sisodia said on Twitter.

Also Read: Eye on MCD polls, Arvind Kejriwal says will ‘beautify’ Delhi if AAP gets control of civic body

Sisodia’s claims come amid a strong buzz that the MCD elections in the national capital may be held in December this year.. The process of polls to the three civic wards in Delhi was scheduled to be concluded by June this year. However, it was delayed after the Centre brought in a bill in Parliament to unify the three civic bodies. The Bill, cleared by Parliament amid strong opposition, received Presidential assent on April 20 this year.     

The AAP and the BJP have been at loggerheads over the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. While the BJP has alleged that the AAP government received kickbacks for benefitting private liquor vendors, the AAP has shot back alleging a witch-hunt with the Gujarat polls in mind.

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The AAP has also recently gone on an offensive against the BJP over the state of the national capital under BJP’s control. On Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promised to “beautify” the national capital if the Aam Aadmi Party gets control of the civic body and accused the current MCD of trying to turn the city into a city of “garbage mountains.”

The AAP has also launched a month-long campaign to highlight the failures of the BJP-ruled civic body. Groups led by AAP MLAs tried to reach Ghazipur and Okhla landfill sites on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, to stage a protest, but were stopped by police.

The terms of the three civic bodies expired in May. Elections to constitute a new civic body are yet to be held. The central government has fixed the total number of seats in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi at 250 from the existing figure of 272, a Delhi Gazette notification issued on Saturday said.