Maharashtra CM hails 73rd, 74th constitutional amendments

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today hailed the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution that strengthened local self-governing bodies.
These amendments, carried out over two decades ago, have stopped state governments from dissolving local bodies as and when they wanted or delaying their elections, he said.
"Before the amendments, the state governments did what they wanted to (with these local bodies). If they saw benefit, they used to conduct polls or used to postpone elections for 10 years altogether. This situation changed after the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were made," said Fadnavis.
He was speaking at the concluding session of a two-day conference organised by the State Election Commission of Maharashtra (SECM) to take stock of the implementation of the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments for panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies, respectively.

The conference was aimed at taking a critical review on progress made in regards to the implementation of the key provisions, State Election Commissioner J S Saharia said.
The conference deliberated on five major topics - electoral reforms, local self-governing bodies and state government, notable achievements and best practices adopted by these bodies both within India and abroad.