India's cities face governance gaps due to delayed urban elections: Report

A new study has found that 61 per cent of urban local governments in 17 states saw delayed polls in recent years, citing disempowered state election panels and undefined electoral timelines

A recent study has noted rampant delays in elections to Urban Local Governments (ULGs) across the country, with as many as 61 per cent of ULGs across 17 states experiencing such postponements in recent years. The study has sought to identify critical ‘delay hotspots’ and recommended reforms, including that the proposed Constitution amendment on simultaneous polls should encompass amending existing laws to ensure timely elections for ULGs as well.

 

Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit institution working to transform the quality of life in India’s cities and towns, conducted the study, which it released on August 6. The report, Delays in Urban Local Government Elections in India: Analysis and Reform Pathways, found that 24 out of 34 states and Union Territories do not empower their State Election Commissions to conduct delimitation and reservation.

 

It said that the failure to empower State Election Commissions (SECs) “along with undefined timelines for key electoral procedures, emerge as causes for delay in urban local government (municipal) elections contrary to the Constitutional mandate of elections every five years”. The result, the study noted, is the “unconstitutional practice of many cities operating under state-appointed administrators rather than elected councils and mayors”.

 

The study, authored by Janaagraha’s Aishwarya R, Maansi Verma, Santosh Nargund and Anand Iyer, said that without elected councils, urban centres suffer from poor public service delivery and lack institutional accountability from local leaders. According to Census 2011, 31 per cent of the country is urban, with 318 million citizens governed by 4,041 Urban Local Governments. Nearly 1,000 new ULGs have been declared since 2011. With 60 per cent of India — an estimated 800 million citizens — projected to be living in urban areas by 2050, the study has flagged the urgent need for better and more participatory urban governance.

 

It noted that despite massive investments, 59 per cent of urban residents face water scarcity, 80 per cent are exposed to unhealthy air quality, 364 million (36.4 crore) urban residents face very strong heat stress, and recurring urban floods affect major cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, resulting in significant losses. The Chennai floods of 2015 were estimated to have caused losses amounting to Rs 15,000 crore.

 

Disempowered SECs 

Just as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible under the Constitution for the timely conduct of elections to Parliament and state legislative assemblies, the SECs are independent constitutional bodies responsible for conducting elections to local governments – Panchayats and Municipalities. However, the report found that only 8 out of 34 SECs are empowered with both ward delimitation and reservation powers, and two with powers over delimitation only. As many as 24 SECs have no powers over these critical electoral processes, the study stated.

 

According to the research, the absence of defined timelines for electoral processes leads to unscheduled amendments to election rules, altering of ULG boundaries, announcement of delimitations, and amending of reservations by state governments, creating electoral uncertainty in cities. Some states where elections were delayed due to delimitation and reservation issues are Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. Some state governments have withdrawn delimitation and/or reservation powers from SECs, including Maharashtra and Karnataka, the study noted.

 

It found that in several cities, council elections are not held before the expiry of the council term. According to the CAG, delays range from seven months (Delhi) to 24 months (Gurugram) to 55 months (Bengaluru). Even large cities saw elected councils replaced by the direct rule of state governments, it noted, and in many states, there is no legal deadline to convene the first council meeting, which leads to delays in starting the municipality's five-year constitutional term under Article 243U of the Constitution. This creates delays in both council formation and mayoral elections.

 

For example, there is a 22-month average delay in conducting municipal elections after the expiry of the councils as of September 2020/2021. In Karnataka, as of August 2024, there was an 11-month average delay in electing mayors and forming councils across city corporations.

 

State governments’ overreach 

The study found that the term of a city council is five years from the first meeting after council formation, which is convened by the state government in 28 states and Union Territories. While in some states the first meeting is required to be convened within 15–30 days, as many as 17 states and Union Territories do not stipulate any time limit, it found. Moreover, even when elected councils are formed, they may be dissolved by state governments. Over the years, CAG audits have found that 14 out of the 18 states audited empower state governments to dissolve ULGs.

 

Reforms 

The report has recommended constitutional amendments to define a frequency for ward delimitation and reservation (once in 10 years), empowering SECs with delimitation and reservation functions, and mandating city council formation within 15 days of election results.

 

Other reforms it has suggested include legislative safeguards preventing state governments from changing election rules or ULG boundaries within six months of council expiry, mandating transparency measures like submission of annual reports by SECs to Governors, and making election-related data available in an accessible format on SEC websites.

 

The Janaagraha report has based its findings on research into 82 municipal legislations across states and Union Territories, a dozen interviews with current and former State Election Commissioners, 13 Supreme Court and High Court judgements, and performance audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the implementation of the 74th Constitution Amendment Act by states.

 

Janaagraha has worked on urban policy and governance reforms for over two decades, and engaged with Finance Commissions, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, NITI Aayog, as well as the state governments of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan.