Maha: Reservation for mayoral post in 29 civic bodies announced 

Mumbai, Jan 22 (IANS) The reservation for the post of mayors in 29 municipal corporations of Maharashtra was announced on Thursday, following a category-wise rotational basis as per the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (Reservation of Offices of Mayors) Rules, 2006.  

The process came under scanner after opposition Shiv Sena - UBT leaders raised objections for putting Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) into the General category, which it had been for the last two terms. 

Former Mumbai mayor and SS-UBT leader Kishori Pednekar questioned why BMC was not in the Scheduled Tribes or OBC category, calling it an insult to OBCs.

However, Minister of State (Urban Development Department Madhuri Misal rejected the allegations, saying the process was as per the law and transparent. The tenure of mayors will be for the next two and a half years.

The Maharashtra Municipal Corporations (Reservation of Offices of Mayors) Rules, 2006, came into effect from the 2007 local body polls. A senior official from the urban development department said that the rotational cycle for the mayoral posts’ reservation is considered from the year 2007. Since its inception, the rules have undergone only one amendment, which was in 2010, ensuring 50 per cent reservation for women in mayoral posts.

During the Draw Process, a transparent rotating drum was used for the draw. Chits were placed inside and drawn one by one.

For the Scheduled Tribes (ST) Reservation, initially, the first draw was held for the single urban body reserved for the Scheduled Tribes category. The decision to apply ST reservation in only one municipal corporation is based on the population of the ST community in urban areas in the 2011 census. 

Municipal Corporations with more than three ST corporators included Kalyan-Dombivli, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Thane, Dhule, Nagpur, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and Vasai-Virar. Based on the rotation since 2006, the Mayoral post had already been reserved for ST at some point in Dhule, Nagpur, Nashik, and Pimpri-Chinchwad. 

Therefore, excluding these, chits for Kalyan-Dombivli, Chandrapur, Jalgaon, Thane, and Vasai-Virar were used. Kalyan-Dombivli was selected in the draw.

For the Scheduled Castes (SC) Reservation, the second draw was for the Scheduled Castes in 3 urban bodies. The decision to apply the SC reservation in three municipal corporations is based on the population of the SC community in urban areas in the 2011 census. 

Corporations with more than 3 SC members were identified, including Akola, Amravati, Ahilyanagar, Ichalkaranji, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Chandrapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalgaon, Jalna, Thane, Dhule, Navi Mumbai, Nanded-Waghala, Nagpur, Nashik, Panvel, Parbhani, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Brihanmumbai, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Malegaon, Mira-Bhayandar, Latur, Vasai-Virar, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, and Solapur.

Corporations that had previously seen SC reservation - Akola, Amravati, Ahilyanagar, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Kolhapur, Navi Mumbai, Nanded-Waghala, Nashik, Panvel, Parbhani, Brihanmumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad, and Solapur - were excluded. 

Chits for the remaining 14 corporations were entered. Thane, Jalna, and Latur were drawn. Since 2 of these 3 posts are reserved for women, a subsequent draw selected Jalna and Latur for the SC Women category.

For the OBC Reservation, the third draw was for the OBC category. With 27 per cent reservation, Mayoral posts in 8 out of 29 corporations were reserved for OBCs. Except for Jalna, Ichalkaranji, and Panvel, all other corporations had previously had an OBC Mayor. 

Since Jalna was already reserved for SC Women in the earlier draw, it was excluded. Ichalkaranji and Panvel, which had never seen an OBC reservation, were automatically reserved for this category.

The remaining 23 names were arranged alphabetically in Marathi, and the first 6 - Akola, Ahilyanagar, Ulhasnagar, Kolhapur, Chandrapur, and Jalgaon - were reserved for OBCs. 

From these 8 OBC-reserved posts, a draw was held to reserve 4 for OBC Women. In the case of General Category Reservation, the fourth and final draw was for the General category. Out of 17 mayoral posts, 9 were reserved for women. 

The remaining 17 corporations were entered into the draw to select the 9 posts reserved for women.

--IANS

sj/dan