Rajasthan: Congress Government Paves Way For Unelected Persons To Become Civic Body Heads

Days after announcing indirect election of civic body heads in Rajasthan, the state's Congress government on Thursday (17 October) announced implementing a hybrid model under which a candidate can become mayor, president, and chairperson even without contesting an election or even after getting defeated in the election. A notification has been issued in this regard.

State Minister Shanti Dhariwal said, "In compliance with a decision taken in the 14 October meeting of the state Cabinet, the Rajasthan Municipal (Election) Rules, 1994 have been amended to indirectly elect president, chairman, and mayor to the municipal institutions. Its notification has been released by the Department of Autonomous Governance on Wednesday."

Under the new rule, a mayoral aspirant will neither have to be a councillor nor will have to mandatorily contest an election. His name can be proposed by a party and be supported by the councillors.

Rajasthan will be the first state in the country to implement this model of parachuting civic body heads. It is also yet to be decided how many months after the appointment of a mayor, would elections be held to announce his formal 'win'.

BJP state President Satish Poonia criticised the decision saying the Congress was trying different tricks to win the civic unit polls. "I have heard that they are bringing in a hybrid model. But I am confident that they will lose the elections no matter which model they bring in," he added.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)