Cabinet to go for open ballot for election of civic body chairpersons, vice-chairpersons during no confidence motion
Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the elections to urban local bodies (ULBs), the state Cabinet Thursday decided to bring amendment to municipal laws to ensure open ballot election during move of no confidence motion against civic body chairperson and vice-chairperson.
The Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved 16 proposals, including bringing necessary amendments to Orissa Municipal Act, 1950 and the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003 to facilitate the open ballot system, informed Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here after the meeting.
During the elections of municipal chairperson/mayor, vice-chairperson/ deputy-mayor, the political parties are issuing whips. But, due to existing secret ballot system, no party is able to know who has voted for which party, Padhi said.
So, to ensure that the elected members have voted for the selected member of the concern party, this decision was take, he said.
“Necessary amendment in the act will be brought after passing it in the state Assembly,” Padhi pointed out. The Act is has provision for a political party to know whether the elected representative who has won the election with their party symbol is adhering to their ideology and obeying the instructions in letter and spirit.
With the amendment, violation of instructions of the political party can be identified and the said proof may be helpful to the State Election Commission (SEC) for disqualification of elected members on the ground of defection, sources said.
The Cabinet also approved award of tender for construction of underground pipe line system to provide irrigation facility to 13,982 hectares of area in about 200 villages of Nuapada and Bolangir districts, the Chief Secretary said, adding, the cost of project is 141.99 crore and it is targeted to be completed in one year.
Fluoride contamination in drinking water sources have been noticed in 1658 habitations in 16 districts of the state, of these, 905 habitations are of Nuapada district. The government has already covered 317 habitations with piped water supply systems, while a number of projects are under implementation to cover another 371 flouride affected villages.
PNN
