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Pilot slams Raje govt for scrapping direct mayoral polls

Soon after coming to power, the Raje government effected a change in the Act and went back to indirect mayoral elections through councillors.

The upcoming polls are also crucial for Raje as the ruling government’s image took a beating after the poor show in the bypolls.

As Rajasthan heads for elections to 46 civic bodies on November 22, the Congress has stepped up its attack on the ruling BJP government. Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot in a direct attack on Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje questioned the reversal of direct mayoral elections introduced by the previous Ashok Gehlot government.

Calling it a breach of the electorate’s right to choose their mayor, Pilot said: “The BJP government did not consult the electorate or the Opposition before bringing about the amendment. I have written to the CM about it, but there has been no response. I now ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won’t this move increase corruption in civic bodies in the absence of an anti-defection law. If the BJP does not get a majority in several civic bodies, they will engage in horse-trading and with no anti-defection law in place, we will not be able to do anything about it.”

Responding to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Kailash Nath Bhat said, “We have parliamentary elections and not presidential like the US. Results of the experiment with direct mayoral elections is for everyone to see. None of the municipal boards could function effectively, be it in Jaipur where the mayor was from Congress and the board was dominated by BJP or the vice-versa in Sikar”.

Notably, the state had witnessed direct mayoral elections for the first time in 2009 and Congress mayors were elected from several BJP-dominated municipal corporations. However, the mayors and the municipality boards remained at loggerheads and the civic bodies could not function effectively.

Soon after coming to power, the Raje government effected a change in the Act and went back to indirect mayoral elections through councillors.

The local polls would be a litmus test for Pilot, who has been on a high since the Assembly bypolls in which the party clinched three out of four seats. The upcoming polls are also crucial for Raje as the ruling government’s image took a beating after the poor show in the bypolls.

First uploaded on: 20-11-2014 at 02:39 IST

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