Unruly members indulging in disorderly acts — throwing flowerpots, walking in with a calf, or one’s own private microphone — is almost normal behaviour in the MCD House. Mayor Arti Mehra now wants to put a full stop to such unparliamentary activities by getting in bouncers authorised to even show the door to unruly members.

Mehra’s second term gets over in April but she wants her successors to deal with a “disciplined” opposition.

“The opposition leaders just walk into the well of the House when they do not want the meetings to proceed. They do not want a healthy debate to take place,” Mayor Mehra says, justifying the move to appoint strongmen to deal strongly with unruly councillors.

While MCD members using unparliamentary language in the House is nothing new, there have been a few bizarre acts of late, many in the municipality say. Leader of Opposition J K Sharma has been reported walking into the House with his own microphone. His contention: the Mayor does not let him speak in the House, and that she gets the microphone switched off every time it’s his turn to speak. Bahujan Samaj Party councillors had in fact got a calf into the House a few months ago — they contended the MCD cattle van had picked up the cow from an illegal dairy. Their demand: the Mayor should immediately pass an order to release the cow.

“It gets really difficult at times to control the members,” Mehra says. “The councilors often fail to respect the dignity of the House.”

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