AAP moves motion in MCD to hike LoP’s spending power | Latest News Delhi

A day before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was to finalise its budget for 2025-26, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) moved eight“cut motions” or “amendment motions” that seek to modify allocations made for a specific purpose. One of two key motions was a proposal to increase expenditure power of the leader of the Opposition, from ₹4 lakh to ₹7 lakh, and the other was to reduce the mayor’s discretionary fund by ₹500 crore, to its previous form of a ₹10-cr fund, and use the reduction to regularise contractual workers.

In all, there were 31 motions moved by all parties.

Leader of Opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Raja Iqbal Singh said the AAP was making arrangements to benefit them. “AAP is on its way out and they are going back on their own projects. Last year, they made this massive mayor discretionary fund but now they want to reduce it by ₹500 crore. LOP expenses are being added from sanitation sector. We will oppose these changes,” he said. 

To be sure, the MCD is set to go to polls this April,and the AAP became a minority in the House due to a series of defections to the BJP on February 15, a week on since the latter’s resounding win in the Delhi Assembly elections. This has left the BJP with 116 councillors, AAP with 114 and Congress with eight.

The AAP members also moved a proposal to increase the expenses of leader of house by ₹1 lakh, to ₹9 lakh.

The proposal states: “The following be added to the end of the motion of the commissioner. With the modification that the budget estimates for the year 2025-26, the provision under the head K-150-1062- fund for the improvement of sanitation services be decreased by ₹3 lakh and correspondingly a similar amount of ₹3 lakh be added under the head A-002-1139 expenses leader of opposition/ leader of second largest party.”

On February 13, MCD commissioner Ashwini Kumar tabled budget proposals to the tune of ₹17,002.6 crore for 2025-26. The schedule of taxes was passed on the same day and voting is likely to take place on Wednesday.

Among other cut motions moved by the AAP, it sought addition of ₹800 crore to a fund to regularise jobs of contractual workers. It sought to move ₹300 crore from funds for road maintenance over the next 10 years and ₹500 crore from the mayor discretionary fund. Party leaders said the AAP, in its budget, will also attempt to bring in proposals seeking widespread property tax relief.

On February 25, the AAP passed a private member resolution seeking five sets of property tax rebates. The resolution also said that on payment of the property tax for current financial year (2024-25), all pending property tax should be waived.