Itanagar, May 27: Ousted Itanagar Municipal Council chief Higio Aruni today stood her ground and claimed that she was "still the chief councillor".

An official statement, however, said that election for a new chief councillor would be held on May 29.

Aruni had been removed from her post following a no-confidence motion moved against her on Monday where 22 of the 30 councillors voted for her removal. She had been accused of not conducting the council's audits since it was formed in 2013. She had denied the charges and today even questioned the validity of the process of her removal.

"It was a special session that was called on Monday and it is wrong to term it as no-confidence motion," she said.

Aruni accused both Congress and BJP councillors of conspiring against her "for the past two years" and "trying to undermine a woman". Aruni herself is from the Congress. The post of the chief councillor is reserved for women.

She also alleged that deputy chief councillor Kipa Babu, who had moved the motion against her despite being a Congressman, had violated party discipline. She said she would not seek action from the party high command, as it had "eyes and ears and will act accordingly".

Although immediately after her removal she had claimed it was "no big thing", today she claimed that she was "still the chief councillor" and there was "no doubt about the issue".

Kipa Babu, who has taken temporary charge of the council, dismissed Aruni's statement saying that "all rules according to the 74th Amendment of the Arunachal Pradesh Municipal Act were followed" and that "signatures of all councillors present were taken and the entire process was recorded".

It was Babu who had chaired Monday's meeting and had moved the motion against Aruni.

Another Congress councillor, Kipa Takum, sided with Babu and claimed that Aruni had handed her resignation letter on Monday.

"She couldn't keep her flock together," Takum said.