Truncated democracy in city governance

Truncated democracy in city governance
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Come to think of it. About six lakh property tax payers with a voter strength of 40 lakh have ended up becoming mere customers of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP).

They have no say in its decision making, and no opportunity to participate in city governance.

The closest they come to decision making is when they vote once in five years to elect their councillor, after which they are forced to bear with whatever the civic body decides on their behalf.

The 74th amendment to the constitution intends to address the issue but the State government has let it pass. Though ward committees are meant to increase the participation from the citizen, the methods designed by the government end up just doing the opposite.

The Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act stipulates the constitution of ward committees comprising three to four wards in the city, with members nominated by the government and a councillor from the constituent wards as its chairman. The nominated members are expected to be responsible citizens of the wards and not from any political party. The committee would monitor the civic works and work as a watchdog.

But the reality is far from the intentions of the constitution. The present council of the BMP took more than a year to nominate the members to the ward committees and they were all on the recommendations from the sitting MLAs.

The problem is that ward committees have the same power as a councillor, except voting in the council, and the elected members do not want to part with their powers.