Bhayandar: The waiting game for aspirants seeking nominations as co-opted member of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) is all set to end next month. Nearly 30 months after BJP took over the reins of MBMC by claiming majority in the August 2017 civic polls, the process for nominating five co-opted members has finally taken off. Members will be co-opted according to the strength of each party in the house.
Among the five members to be co-opted, BJP which won 61 of the 95 seats, can nominate three members followed by one each from the Shiv Sena and Congress. While the civic administration has sought applications on February 10, aspiring party workers have intensified their efforts to secure the coveted post, even as local political leaders were all out trying to clinch nominations for their close aides.
The applications will be scrutinised by the municipal commissioner, following which names of the shortlisted candidates will be tabled before the general body for final approval. Even as the new norms issued by the urban development department in 2012, clearly states that people aspiring for co-opted seats should have two years’ experience as commissioner, five years as assistant commissioner, five years’ experience of a social organisation, or should be lawyers, engineers or doctors, almost all the parties have followed the traditional ritual by nominating politicians, mainly those defeated at the hustings, as a rehabilitation gesture. Loyal workers cutting across party lines fear that back-door entry into the civic house, to losers, would send a wrong signal. Although co-opted members do not having voting rights but can participate in debates and raise issues in the civic house.