Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), 21st July 2022: After the urban body elections in Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is celebrating the success of the number of councilors in the corporations and the municipal council, while there is a wave of happiness in the Congress’s side as well.
BJP has been defeated by the Kamal Nath-led Congress. However, out of the five cities where Congress has won the post of mayor, BJP has a higher number of councilors. Now a 2-year-old decision of Shivraj Singh is being discussed and it is being said that if he had not changed Kamal Nath’s decision, today BJP would have got the post of mayor in at least 14 cities instead of 9.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan had decided to hold direct elections for the post of mayor in Madhya Pradesh, overturning Kamal Nath’s decision two years ago. Congress could not get a single mayor’s post in 2015. When Congress came to power in 2018, Kamal Nath changed the practice of direct election for the post of mayor in Madhya Pradesh and issued an ordinance that only the winning councilors would elect the mayor from amongst themselves. BJP strongly opposed it.
When Shivraj came to power in 2020 after Scindia’s rebellion, he canceled Kamal Nath’s decision and said that the mayor would be elected by the public. Now referring to this decision of Shivraj, it is being said that if elections were held on Kamal Nath’s formula, then BJP would have had at least 14 mayors.