AAP and BJP municipal councillors came to blows before the mayoral polls at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Friday, causing the elections to be indefinitely postponed and the House adjourned.

The AAP accused the BJP of trying to steal the mandate it won in the recently concluded municipal elections. The ruckus began after the presiding officer — BJP councillor Satya Sharma — began to swear in aldermen nominated by lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Saxena later in the day, saying: “The elected government is supposed to nominate MCD aldermen; shocking and saddening how LG dictated his pickings without consulting the government. The tradition of appointing senior-most councillor as presiding officer was thrown to the winds; the elected government’s power of appointing the presiding officer was infringed by LG.”

Kejriwal alleged an attempt by the BJP to get aldermen to vote, which runs contrary to Article 243R of the Constitution that does not grant nominated members the power to vote in a municipal poll.

Of the 250 councillors, the AAP has 134 and the BJP 104.

Whips are not available in the MCD and members vote according to conscience. The BJP, which had earlier declared that it would form the Opposition, filed its nominations, which led to speculation of potential defections.

Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva accused Kejriwal of instigating the violence. “For the last two days the chief minister himself had been making statements and correspondence on the issue of aldermen, disregarding the legal provisions. He was directly inciting his councillors to commit violence.... Many councillors of the BJP have been injured, especially Andrews Ganj councillor Sharad Kapoor who has been hospitalised. This clearly shows that the AAP had made plans for today’s violence.”

Although the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act gives the LG the power to nominate aldermen, in previous years the LG has done so on the recommendation of the Delhi government.

The AAP paraded its councillor Praveen Kumar with a bleeding thumb. He said: “When I objected to this (aldermen being sworn in first), the aldermen and other BJP councillors began to physically attack me. The memento which is used to take the oath of office, they threw it at me. I used my hands to save myself and, in the process, injured my hands. It could have hit my head as well.

“After that around 20-25 of them physically attacked me and some members even tried to choke me. They tore my clothes. I begged for help and requested their senior members to ask these people to stop, but instead of listening to my pleas, they also started to attack me.”