Govt proposes to keep Gzb mayoral seat ‘unreserved’
GHAZIABAD: The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday announced the proposed reservation status of mayoral seats in 17 municipal corporations across the state and said the seat of Ghaziabad mayor will be “unreserved” for the upcoming local body polls.
Earlier, the mayoral seat of Ghaziabad was reserved for women candidates.
The announcement of the proposed reservation was made by Uttar Pradesh urban development minister Arvind Kumar Sharma at a press briefing in state capital Lucknow.
“The seat for the Ghaziabad mayor will be unreserved... We have given seven days for filing objections and another two days’ time will be given for the disposal of objections before the issuance of a final notification,” Sharma said.
The government had last week announced the reservation status for the 100 wards of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, which stated that 43 seats will be for unreserved category, while the other seats will have reservation for women and Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) categories. The reservation status last week was also proposed for 55 wards of the Loni Nagar Palika, 34 wards of Modinagar Nagar Palika, 25 wards of Muradnagar Nagar Palika, 34 wards of Khoda-makanpur Nagar Palika, 10 wards of Patla Nagar Panchayat, 11 wards of Farid Nagar Nagar Panchayat and 15 wards of Dasna Nagar Panchayat.
The Ghaziabad municipal corporation, formerly the municipal board, came into existence after its upgrade to a nagar nigam in 1994.
Ever since, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate has held the post of mayor in subsequent elections. As far as reservation status, the seat for the mayor in Ghaziabad was reserved for women twice, while it was reserved for OBC candidates for one term. It is likely that the announcement for the local body polls will take place within a fortnight, sources said.
“With the seat of mayor proposed as unreserved, there will be hectic activity in different political parties to decide their respective candidates. The number of candidates applying for tickets will also increase. The residents of the city want a candidate who is educated and knows the procedures of the corporation. The elected candidate must put a check on prevailing corrupt practices and make sure that the corporation works in a transparent manner. He or she should also have the required experience,” said Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Raj Nagar.
Apart from the announcement of the proposed reservation for the post of mayor, the state government on Monday also announced the proposed status for the chairperson of nagar palikas and nagar panchayats in Ghaziabad.