The battle on whether MPs, MLAs and MLCs should have the right to vote while electing Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), began in the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday.
Justice Raghavendra S. Chauhan, before whom the petitions filed by BJP councillors-elect Prameela M. and four others came up for hearing, heard the preliminary submissions before adjourning further hearing till September 8.
The court was informed that the elections to the position of Mayor and Deputy Mayor are scheduled to be held on September 11.
Senior counsel Ashok Haranahalli, appearing for the petitioners, argued that representation for MPs, MLAs and MLCs in a municipal corporation and their right to vote will have to be limited to civic matters, and such a voting right can’t be extended to the “political” right of the directly elected councillors to choose amongst themselves a Mayor and a Deputy Mayor, he argued.
“Permitting MLAs, MPs and MLCs to vote in mayoral election in addition to the directly elected councillors would destroy the concept of local self-government, inasmuch as, the MLAs and MPs would be representing the same citizens that the directly elected councillors already represent,” the petition added.
Permitting persons other than the directly elected councillors to vote in mayoral election will also erode the weightage of the votes of female councillors, who have been granted reservation of 50 per cent of seats in the local body, the petitioners said.
Pointing out that other than 198 elected councillors, the BBMP council comprises 62 others – 28 MLAs, 20 MLCs, 14 MPs (nine representing Lok Sabha and five representing Rajya Sabha), Mr. Haranahalli said there would be no meaning in holding elections to choose councillors.
Contending that zilla panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations are homogeneous bodies of local self- governance, Mr. Haranahalli contended that the MPs, MLAs and MLCs were not given voting rights in selection of heads of panchayats.
He also pointed out that Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court recently held that MPs and MLAs can’t enjoy the right to vote in election or removal of presidents or vice-presidents of a municipal council under the Karnataka Municipalities Act.
However, the Advocate-General said that the voting rights to MPs, MLAs and MLCs were provided as per the Constitutional mandate while pointing out that the government has already filed an appeal against the verdict of Kalaburagi Bench on voting rights of such members in municipal councils.
