‘Remove names of political party workers from ward committees’

Stating that more than 90% of those in the provisional list of 600 ward committee members of 60 wards were affiliated to Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and other political parties, the former Mangaluru City South MLA J.R. Lobo on Wednesday asked Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner to take suo motu action to remove such names.

Talking to reporters here, Mr. Lobo said that among the norms followed by the corporation for selecting a ward committee member includes that the person should not be affiliated to any political party. The corporation has obtained affidavits in this regard from each one of those who has applied for becoming ward committee member.

Mr. Lobo said that a cursory look at the provisional list of members of the 60 wards shows that a majority of the members are affiliated to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. There are also members affiliated to the Congress and other political parties. “It is strange that officials have overlooked the norms and have included party workers as members of ward committees,” he said.

However, members of non-government organisations are also part of committees in some wards.

After 1,278 people applied to be part of committees consisting of 10 members each in the 60 wards, a committee headed by Commissioner Akshy Sridhar scrutinised them and released ward-wise provisional list of members. “We will place our objections before the corporation,” he said and added that the Congress was against party workers becoming ward committee members. Applications of many eligible applicants have been rejected without hearing, he added.

Mr. Sridhar told

The Hindu that the corporation is following the guidelines laid out by the Supreme Court in constituting ward committees.

The provisional list of members has been released after scrutiny of applications by the committee which met six times between March 26 and June 18. Objections can be sent either to the office of the Zonal Commissioners or the main corporation office by August 15. They can also be emailed to: mccwardcommittee@gmail.com .