Bill paving way for indirect election of chairpersons passed

Chennai, Sep 2 (PTI) Amid opposition from the DMK, a billpaving the way for indirect election of chairpersons of urbanlocal bodies in Tamil Nadu, on the lines of Mayoral elections,was today passed by the Assembly. The AIADMK-dominated House passed the Tamil Nadu DistrictMunicipalities (Amendment) Act, 2016, moved by MunicipalAdministration Minister SP Velumani on August 29. Under the present system, chairpersons in urban localbodies like municipalities are elected directly by the people. The government had made the proposal, contending that insome cases, the chairpersons did not get the cooperation ofthe councillors and vice-versa, leading to "impediments in theproceedings of councils and to arrive at a consensus inpassing resolutions to provide civic services to the public asboth the chairmen and the councillors are elected directly". "As such, in order to have a uniform election procedure inall the urban local bodies in the state, the government hasdecided to elect the chairmen of municipalities and townpanchayats indirectly by the councillors or the members fromamong themselves as the case may be," the bill said. The DMK members, who were involved in a noisy protestagainst Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s remarks against Leaderof Opposition MK Stalin earlier in the day, paused briefly todiscuss the bill with its member SR Raja debating on it. Raja argued that the present system of the people directlyelecting their municipal chairman should continue. Congress Legislature Party leader KR Ramaswamy, who raisedapprehensions of horse-trading, also opposed the bill. Velumani insisted that such a system was already in voguein the other states, including Gujarat, and ruled out thepossibility of "foul play". While the DMK insisted on a ‘division’ (voting), Speaker PDhanapal ruled it out and went for a voice vote. "Division is not required," he said, adding that theruling party had the adequate strength to pass the bill. The Treasury benches, which outnumber the oppositioncomprising the DMK, the Congress and the IUML, passed the billwith a loud ‘yes’ in Tamil when the Speaker went for the voicevote. In June, the Assembly had passed a bill paving the way forindirect election of Mayors, replacing the system of thepeople electing their corporation heads. The House also passed some other bills, including theTamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts (Amendment) Act, 2016, to giverepresentation to its affiliated colleges in the Syndicate andAcademic Council of the university. PTI SA VGN BNRCTRK