Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra legislative assembly has passed a bill to make a four-member ward system in all the municipalities in the state except Mumbai.
At present, there is a three-member ward system in the state. But the new amendment bill proposes a four or five-member ward structure for all the municipalities, corporations and panchayat samitis.
The system has been changing almost every two years since it was introduced in 2001. The Opposition has questioned the urgency of the clearance of the bill as there haven’t been any elections of corporations for four years.
The government’s stand is that there is a need to give opportunity to more and more people’s representatives in the local self-government bodies.
In 2001, the multi-member ward system was introduced during the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. Since then the number of wards has been changing. The Devendra Fadnavis government introduced multi-member i.e. four-member wards in 2017.