Elections to the Pune Elections to the PMC and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are due in February 2012 along with other civic bodies in the state. (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are due in February 2012 along with other civic bodies in the state.
In a major development which may affect the conduct of the forthcoming municipal corporation elections in the city, independent corporator Ujjwal Keskar on Tuesday said there is scope to form three-member wards and urged the state election commission should do so.
He said the common belief that the state government had decided to have two-member wards in the city was wrong, going by the legal provisions in the related ordinance.
Elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are due in February 2012 along with other civic bodies in the state.
The state government has declared that there would be 50% reservation for women in the civic bodies. There would also be reservation for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes (OBC).
Recently, a controversy arose on whether there should be multi-member wards, in which voters elect more than one representative, or single-member wards, as at present. There were political differences within the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in the state. The Congress was in favour of four-member wards, while the NCP insisted on single-member wards. Ultimately, the state government decided to have two-member wards.
Keskar on Tuesday referred to the ordinance issued by the state government to amend the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (BPMC) Act,1949, on May 26. He said the ordinance says that voters will “elect as far as possible two councillors but not less than two and not more than three councillors.” Thus, there is scope for forming three-member municipal wards, he claimed.
He said if three-member wards are formed, three corporators would be elected from one ward and, considering the provisions of reservation, there would be opportunity for at least one male aspirant to get elected in each ward, which would help save the political careers of many.
He said he would approach the state election commissioner, Neela Satyanarayan, on Wednesday to demand that three-member wards be formed for the civic election. As the state government has amended the BPMC Act, 1949, through an ordinance, it is up to the state election commission to decide how it implements the legal provision, he said.
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