The membership of 20 corporators of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) are to be scrapped following a Supreme Court ruling making it mandatory for members to submit their caste validity certificates within six months of their being elected.
The apex court upheld a December 2016 ruling by the Bombay High Court stating that corporators failing to file valid caste certificates within six months of being elected should be disqualified.
The affected corporators include 11 from the Congress-NCP coalition which controls the 81-member KMC, eight from the BJP-Tararani Aghadi alliance which forms the main opposition, and one from the Shiv Sena.
Of the 11 three – Hasina Faras, Niyaz Khan and Ashwini Ramane — are former mayors of the KMC.
The Supreme Court ruling is likely to see more disqualifications across the State in civic bodies, municipal councils and grampanchayat samitis.
Once the corporators are disqualified, the SEC is likely to announce by-elections to these 20 wards. This could affect the fortunes of the ruling Congress-NCP coalition in the KMC whose strength could be whittled down.
“It is not the fault of corporators. They have adhered to the norms laid down by the SEC, but are made to suffer owing to the tardiness of the caste certificate verification committee in completing their scrutiny,” said Congress leader from Kolhapur Satej Patil.
