BHUBANESWAR: In what may be seen as the beginning of the process for holding the urban local body polls, the Urban Development department on Friday issued a draft notification seeking objections/ suggestions for Odisha Municipal Rules 1994 for chairpersons and mayors to be elected by the people by direct voting.
The notification said that any objection or suggestion received by the Principal Secretary to the Urban Development department from any person within a month of issue of the notification will be considered by the State government.
The Odisha Assembly had passed two bills in September, 2018 for conduct of direct vote for the elections of mayors in municipal corporations and chairpersons in the municipality and notified area councils. The Odisha Municipal (amendment) Bill 2018 and the Odisha Municipal Corporation (amendment) Bill 2018 were passed in the House in the absence of the Opposition.
The two bills envisaged direct elections for mayors and chairpersons. Now, they are elected from among the corporates and councillors. However, the rules of the Bills were not formulated so far. The State government will have to amend the Odisha Municipal (Delimitation of Wards, Reservation of Seats and Conduct of Election) Rules, 1994 and objections have been sought to frame the rules.
After amendment, the Odisha Municipal (Delimitation of Wards, Reservation of seats and Conduct of Election) Amendment Rules, 2021 will come into force on the date of the publication in the Odisha gazette. The urban body polls have been delayed for over two years on the issue of the reservation ceiling of 50 per cent directed by the Odisha High Court which has been upheld by the Supreme Court.