Chandigarh Admn not in favour of direct election of Mayor

While the UT Administration is all set to recommend an extended tenure of the Chandigarh Mayor, which is one year at present, it is not in favour of the direct election for the post.

Sources in the administration said after examining the prevailing system for the Mayor’s election in different states, the officers involved in the discussion had concluded that changing the mode for the election might create a problem in the smooth functioning of the Municipal Corporation (MC).

Under the present system, the elected councillors elect the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor. The nominated councillors don’t have the voting right in the election.

The administration started considering changing the election system for the post of the Mayor after the Centre asked it to send its comments on the representations made by Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari.

Tewari, in his letters to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister, has strongly supported the five-year tenure for the Mayor. He has also incorporated the proposal in the private Bill on Chandigarh, which, he plans to introduce in Parliament in near future.

Tewari has stated that the present system of one-year tenure for the Mayor is a totally failed system. It gives little time for the Mayor to work on his ideas.

The sources said the officials discussed the models of different cities to prepare a comparative chart on the tenure of Mayors.

The recommendation will be sent to the Government of India after the approval of the UT Administrator.

After examining the models of various states, a note was prepared and circulated among various stakeholders. The note says the tenure of mayors varies in different states from two years to five years, which can be extended to the city too.

The note, however, says experience in certain states with regard to direct election of mayor has not been good. Certain problems emerge in case the mayor is elected from the party, which doesn’t have majority in the House. This will create a tussle in House and may hinder development.

The city has witnessed over 30 mayors since the formation of the Municipal Corporation. The tenure of the Mayor was fixed at one year when the MC was officially formed on May 24, 1994, by extending the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994. Many feel that when councillors are elected for five years, there is no justification in fixing the mayor’s tenure at one year.