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No more direct polls for urban body heads

The present amendment to the TN District Municipalities Act, 1920, gives effect to the government's decision.

Chennai: It is not just the Mayors of Corporations even the chairpersons of municipalities and town panchayats will be elected by the councillors in Tamil Nadu from now on.

Dispensing with the system of the people electing the chairmen directly, the Tamil Nadu Government on Monday proposed to enable indirect election of the chairpersons of urban local bodies.

The Tamil Nadu District Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2016 Bill was tabled in the Assembly on Monday by Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani, proposed amendment to facilitate councillors to elect a person among themselves as chairman.

“At present, elections to the council of the urban local bodies are conducted on party basis and the chairmen are elected directly. It has been brought to the notice of the government that in certain circumstances, the chairmen do not get the cooperation of councillors and vice versa and thereby, there have been impediments in the proceedings of councils and to arrive at consensus in passing resolutions to provide civic services to the public, as both the chairmen and the councillors are elected directly,” Mr Velumani explained.

Hence, taking into account the difficulties faced by the councils of the municipal corporations, the Tamil Nadu Municipal Corporation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Tamil Nadu Act 8 of 2016) was enacted to enable councillors to elect a councillor from among themselves as mayor for the corporations. “In order to have a uniform election procedures in all the urban local bodies in the state, the government has decided to elect the chairmen of the municipalities and town panchayats also indirectly by the councillors or members from among themselves,” the minister added. The present amendment to the TN District Municipalities Act, 1920, gives effect to the government’s decision.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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