By IANS,
Lucknow : Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of demolishing statutory bodies in the state, the state Congress Friday sought the dismissal of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government over its move to amend urban local bodies’ election process.
The Uttar Pradesh state Congress made the demand during a meeting its delegation held Friday with Governor B.L.Joshi at Raj Bhavan here.
“We apprised the governor of the unconstitutional move of the Mayawati government to throttle a key democratic institution with its decision to convert the direct election to indirect for the post of mayor and chairperson of the urban local bodies,” state Congress spokesperson Virendra Madan told reporters here.
“For her political benefits, Mayawati has planned to discontinue the traditional practice of direct elections and ban contests on party lines. The new system will give rise to corrupt practices and use of muscle power in the elections,” he added.
The plan would end direct election of city mayors, who would in future be elected indirectly by the elected members of municipal bodies, Congress activists claimed.
They alleged that the state government had committed a constitution breach as it did not make public the notification regarding the amendment in the election process of the urban local bodies.
“The plan for effecting change in the local bodies for altering the election process was made surreptitiously,” Madan alleged.