E-Paper
Election of civic body posts: Cong caught between rulebook and local leaders’ preferences
Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had categorically conveyed that 50% reservation for the women candidates should be implemented in true spirit
Some MLAs of the ruling Congress and a few cabinet ministers are upset with the local bodies department’s proposed method for election for the office-bearers of 117 civic bodies that went to polls on February 14.
Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had categorically conveyed to a sub-committee led by state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar dealing with the election of office-bearers that 50% reservation for the women candidates should be implemented in true spirit.
Ahead of the 2017 state polls, the Congress party had promised 50% reservation for women candidates. Of the 2,302 wards that went to polls this time, 1,151 women were elected as councillors.
Khanna MLA Gurkirat Kotli reportedly approached the CM on Thursday and apprised him of a tough political situation arising when the roster is being applied and reservation for office-bearers is done on rotation. He demanded that the decision should be taken after clearance from the party’s local MLA. “By rotation, a councillor of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is getting a chance to become an office-bearer. Does this carry any political wisdom,” Kotli asked.
“We have to devise a legitimate method so that the there can’t be anything arbitrary,” cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu told HT.
Qadian MLA Fateh Bajwa also felt the same, saying politicians’ suggestions should be taken into consideration.
The department, according to its director Puneet Goyal, has moved the case as per the law and provisions in the Punjab Municipal Act-1911. Section 8-A of the Act speaks about the reservation of offices of president (and mayors and other office-bearers). “Offices of president (of the municipalities in the state shall be reserved by rotation in the prescribed manner in the following ration: 5% for Scheduled Castes, 5% for women including women belonging to SCs, and 2% for backward classes,” says the Act.
The sub-committee met on Wednesday to ponder over the crucial issue and has sought a legal opinion on if the roster for the election of office-bearers can be tweaked. “We have referred the matter to our seniors for advice,” added Goyal.
The local bodies department is expected to receive gazettee notification from the state election department this week after which the local bodies department will give a notice of 14 days to hold the elections of office-bearers. The elections are expected to take place in the first week of April.
In a municipal corporation, a woman mayor has been proposed as per the rotation roster, however, a cabinet minister is pushing for his brother to lead a particular civic body.
Cabinet minister Aruna Chaudhary, who is part of the sub-committee, said a suggestion has been sought from the legal wing of the local bodies department so that the system of rotation can also be followed to the satisfaction of party MLAs and other leaders. The committee is expected to meet next week, before going to the CM for final clearance.
