Maharashtra Budget Session: Bill For 4-Member Ward System In All Municipalities Gets Nod In Assembly; BMC Exempted

Mumbai: The legislative assembly on Friday passed a bill to make a four-member ward system in all the municipalities in the state except Mumbai.

At present, there is a three-member ward system existing in Maharashtra. But the new amendment bill proposes a four or five member ward structure for all the municipalities, corporations and panchayat samitis.

LoP Questions Urgency Behind Clearing Bill

The system has been changing almost every two years since it was introduced in 2001. On Friday, after the bill tabled in the assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of opposition, questioned the urgency of the clearance of the bill as there haven’t been any elections of corporations for four years. "We want to know what is the stand of the state government on the elections and what is it doing to conduct the elections."

Congress MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said that every two-three years there is an amendment in the bill. Why do we need to change the system and why isn't there any consistency? Furthermore, important links between administration and people-corporators are absent now, he added.

Ashish Shelar Hails Govt's Move

Ashish Shelar, MLA from BJP supported the bill by saying, "The Eknath Shinde government realised that there is a need to give opportunities to more and more people’s representatives in the local self government bodies."

In 2001, the multi-member ward system was introduced during the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. Since then the number of words has been changing. Devendra Fadnavis government introduced a multi-member i.e. four members in one ward in 2017.