Mumbai, February 27 The Maharashtra legislature passed a bill on Friday allowing a person elected as president of municipal councils, nagar panchayats, and industrial townships to simultaneously hold the position of councillor.
The Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats, and Industrial Townships (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was passed by the legislative council on Friday. It had already been passed by the assembly.
Currently, the presidents of municipal councils, nagar panchayats, and industrial townships are elected directly.
According to the bill's contents, a person qualified to be elected as a councillor to the Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats is also qualified to be elected as a president thereof.
Therefore, a person may contest elections as a president and also as a councillor simultaneously, and may also be elected in both positions. Such a person elected in both positions has the mandate of the people for both positions, it added.
A person elected indirectly as a president also continues to be a councillor and functions simultaneously as a president and a councillor.
"Therefore, the government considered it expedient that a president elected directly should also be able to continue as a councillor. It was, therefore, proposed to amend sections 51A-1A and 341B-1A of the said Act to specifically provide that a person elected as a president directly and as a councillor, may simultaneously hold both positions," the bill draft said.
It was also proposed that such a person shall have only one vote, either as a president or as a councillor, and in the event of a tie, the president shall have a casting vote.
The government had issued an ordinance on December 26 last year. The bill is intended to replace the ordinance with a law passed by the state legislature.
NCP (SP) Shashikant Shinde said the bill is being brought to grab power and claimed it amounts to strangulation of democracy.
