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Women get the upper hand in corporations

Friday, 13 December 2019 06:56 administrator
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The New Indian Express      12.12.2019  

Women get the upper hand in corporations

As per  the panchayat and municipal laws amended on February 20, 2016, not less than 50 per cent of the posts in rural and urban local bodies should be reserved.

CHENNAI: Women have got an upper hand in the elections to municipal corporations that are to be held in the coming months. The State government has notified 50 per cent reservation for women for Mayoral post in municipal corporations in the State. According to an extraordinary notification issued on December 4, in eight out of the 15 corporations, Mayoral post has been reserved for women.  

As per the panchayat and municipal laws amended on February 20, 2016, not less than 50 per cent of the posts in rural and urban local bodies should be reserved.  As such, seven corporations — Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Dindigul, Madurai, Coimbatore and Erode have been reserved for women general) category.

Besides, Vellore corporation has been reserved for SC (women) and Thoothukudi corporation has been reserved for SC (general). If the political parties wish, they can field as many number of women candidates in the rest of the corporations too.   

Already, States including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana have 50 per cent reservation in urban local bodies.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu government issued an ordinance to revert to indirect elections to heads of urban local bodies — municipal corporations, municipalities and town panchayats. The move was criticised strongly by opposition parties.