Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday promised to abolish residential house tax if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wins municipal elections in the national capital, drawing criticism from Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari.
“We will abolish residential house tax and waive off all arrears of such taxes of all citizens of Delhi if AAP comes to power in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections,” Kejriwal told reporters.
He added that industrial and commercial house tax will remain.
Elections to the 272 wards in three municipal corporations will be held on April 23. The results will be out on April 26.
According to Kejriwal, the AAP has made all calculations related to the residential house tax and said if his party comes to power it would “save peoples’ money from corruption” and would use that to cover the shortfall after abolishing the house tax.
Kejriwal said his party has delivered on most of the promises, including reducing the electricity charges.
“We had promised to provide free drinking water and to halve the electricity rates. We did what we said. Here in municipal elections we will do what we are promising,” the AAP leader said.
Kejriwal said if AAP wins the civic elections then within one year the party will turn around the MCDs. It will become a profitable organisation which at present is facing a fund crunch.
“The salaries of MCD employees will be released on time if AAP comes to power in civic bodies,” he said.
The chief minister complained of corruption in the corporations and accused councillors of earning money through such practices.
He said the money paid to corporations through taxes was being “stolen by corrupt people”.
“To mint money the corporators in MCD show on paper one road constructed three to four times. They misuse the money meant for the roads. Several works which are not needed are being done in MCD due to which corruption is increasing,” Kejriwal said.
He said that AAP would soon come up with a detailed manifesto for the civic bodies elections.
But BJP’s Tiwari termed the announcement of abolishing residential house tax shameful.
“It is shameful that he is saying that once his party wins civic elections it will exempt residential properties from house tax. In the last two years, the Kejriwal government has several times written to the three civic bodies to levy and collect house tax sternly, especially from those living in unauthorised colonies,” Tiwari said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in keeping with the Delhi Election Commission’s order ahead of the municipal polls, officials on Friday started removing the words “Aam Aadmi” from Delhi government-run schemes on display, and some even went to the extent of covering Kejriwal’s face, which was not part of the order.
Ahead of the municipal elections, the Delhi Election Commission directed that the government in the capital remove the words “Aam” from all forms of display of its schemes.
The state poll panel’s order came on a memorandum submitted BJP leader Vijender Gupta, who had demanded that the words “Aam Aadmi” be removed.
The commission, through a letter on Tuesday, directed the Delhi Chief Secretary and all the three city municipal commissioners to remove the word “Aam” from all forms of display, including hoardings, banners, nameplates, billboards, in Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics and Aam Aadmi Bypass Express Service or anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Delhi government.
However, on Friday, officials while carrying out the directive to cover the word “Aam” with newspaper also plastered over the next word “Aadmi”, on hoardings, billboards and banners of the Delhi government’s flagship Mohalla Clinic scheme across the city.
In the process, the authorities also covered the photographs of Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain in several banners and hoardings of Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics.
Aam Admi Party (AAP) candidates for Delhi municipal elections Ajit Singh Sehra and Nitu Ravi Anand join Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Rajouri Garden candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa, in New Delhi, yesterday.
