Madhya Pradesh: Govt to bring Ordinance for direct elections to urban local body

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): State government will bring an ordinance to conduct direct elections for the post of mayor in urban bodies. It was confirmed by the urban administration department minister Bhupendra Singh on Saturday.

Talking to a section of media, Singh said that government was mulling over to bring in an ordinance so that elections for the post of mayor and heads of municipality, city council could be held through direct voting by the people.

The Supreme Court has asked the State Election Commission to ensure election within two weeks on the basis of a notification issued by the state government. According to notification, mayors will be elected indirectly. This means that they will have to first contest election as corporators. Then, all the corporators will choose one among them as a mayor. It happened in 2015.

Officials from the UAD said that Kamal Nath-led Congress government had amended the election process to hold indirect elections for the post of mayor during its tenure. Though Congress lost power, the election process hasn’t been changed till date.

BJP had objected to indirect elections. Though chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced it earlier, it could not be tabled in the assembly. “Meeting of senior leaders, officials and legal experts is being held to finalise the ordinance as it has legal implications,” said Singh.