PUDUCHERRY: Till date, there have not been any guidelines for selecting persons to be appointed as nominated MLAs. Nominated MLAs have been appointed by the President based on recommendations by the Puducherry government. It has become customary for the ruling party to appoint politicians of their choice as nominated MLAs to suit their own convenience regardless of their special background.
AIADMK had sought framing clear-cut guidelines for appointment of nominated MLAs or deletion of the provision of nominated MLAs from the Union Territory Act, 1963, as it is grossly misused to inflate the number of ruling party members and distort the public mandate. AIADMK MLAs led by A Anbazhagan, leader of the Legislative party had petitioned the Lieutenant Governor in this regard in 2011. Meanwhile, S P Selvashanmugham, Convener, Karaikal Struggle Group, who petitioned the Prime Minister in this regard recently stated that the panel has no representation from outlying regions of the Union territory Karaikal, Mahe or Yanam and said that representation to Karaikal was necessary to maintain regional balance.