About Municipal Elections
- Municipal elections refer to the elections held to elect representatives for local urban governing bodies.
- Elections are held as per the Municipal Corporation Act framed by the legislature of the respective state government, whereas elections for the Municipalities and the Town Panchayats are held as per respective Municipal Act.
Constitutional Provisions related to municipalities:
- Composition of Municipalities (Art 243R): All the seats in a Municipality shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from the territorial constituencies in the Municipal area.
- Each municipality is divided into areas called wards.
- Reservation of seats (Art 243T): Seats are reserved for weaker sections, Scheduled Caste/Tribes, Women, and other groups as per respective municipal Acts.
- Duration of Municipalities (Art 243U): 5 years from the date appointed for its first meeting.
- Municipality elections are required to be completed before the expiration of the duration of the municipality.
- If the municipality is dissolved before the expiry of 5 years, the elections for constituting a new municipality are required to be completed within a period of 6 months from the date of its dissolution.
- State Election Commission (Art 243ZA): The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the Municipalities shall be vested in the SEC.
Three Categories of Urban Local Governance
- Nagar Panchayat for a transitional area, i.e., an area in transition from a rural to an urban area
- Municipal Council for smaller urban areas
- Municipal Corporation for a large urban area.
Urban Local Bodies
- A Municipal Corporation has three authorities: the Council, the Standing Committee, and the Commissioner.
- The Council, comprising councilors, is the deliberative and legislative wing of the Corporation that is headed by a mayor. He is assisted by a Deputy Mayor.
- Though the Mayor is an ornamental figure, he is recognised as the first citizen of the city.
- The Municipal Commissioner carries out the decisions made by the Council and its committees.
- Indian cities largely follow the ‘commissioner as chief executive’ (CACE) model as opposed to the directly elected executive mayor’ (DEEM) model:
- DEEM Model: It’s a strong mayor model where a mayor has extensive executive power.
- CACE model: It’s a weak mayor model where the executive power lies in the hands of the commissioner (An Indian Administrative Service officer).
- Each state has its own laws for setting up municipalities, outlining their duties, structure, finances, and role in local government.