Bills for election of mayors/chairpersons by direct votes in Odisha passed

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Assembly has passed two bills for conduct of direct vote for the elections of mayors in municipal corporations and chairpersons in the municipality and notified area councils.

The Odisha Municipal (amendment) Bill 2018 and the Odisha Municipal Corporation (amendment) Bill 2018 were passed on Tuesday in the House in the absence of the opposition which boycotted the House to register their protest against the manner a resolution on another matter was passed the same day.

Currently, the civic body heads are elected from among the corporates and councillors. With the passing of the bills, people can now elect their the mayors and chairpersons directly, Housing and Urban Development Minister Niranjan Pujari said.

The minister said the bills also enabled the leprosy patients to participate in the civic body elections. "Since leprosy is a curable disease, there should not be any discrimination to contest the election in the municipalities and municipal corporations," Pujari said.