C'garh cabinet panel for indirect election for mayor's post

A sub-committee of Chhattisgarh cabinet has recommended that elections for mayors of municipal corporations and chairpersons of other civic bodies be held in the indirect way.

The sub-committee of Urban Administration Minister Shivkumar Dahariya, Parliamentary Affairs Ministers Ravindra Choubey and Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar on Tuesday held a meeting to examine the rules governing municipal elections.

The schedule of civic polls is yet to be announced, but they are likely to be held in December.

The three ministers, after the meeting, told reporters the sub-committee proposed indirect elections for mayors and chiefs of smaller civic bodies.

People will elect corporators, and the corporators will elect mayor and chairpersons from among them, they said.

The sub-committee also proposed voting by ballot paper and not EVMs (electronic voting machines).

It also recommended that there should be campaign expenditure limits for election for corporator's post -- Rs 5 lakh in municipal corporations with population of over 3 lakh, and Rs 3 lakh in areas with population of less than 3 lakh.

In municipal councils, the expenditure limit should be Rs 1.50 lakh while in Nagar Panchayat it should be Rs 50,000, the sub-committee said.

The final decision on these recommendations will be taken by the cabinet, said Dahariya.

If the recommendations are implemented, Chhattisgarh will witness indirect polls for Mayor for the first time since the state came into existence in 2000.

Opposition BJP opposed the idea. BJP Legislative Party leader Dharamlal Kaushik said the Congress was afraid of defeat in civic body polls after it suffered a huge setback in the Lok Sabha elections.

The ruling party is planning to suppress democratic rights of people, he alleged.

The Congress, on the other hand, welcomed the recommendations.

Prime minister and chief ministers are elected in the same way, so why the BJP objects to indirect election of mayors,asked Sailesh Nitin Trivedi, state Congress general secretary.

The BJP is anticipating defeat in civic polls and therefore opposing the recommendations, he said.