Maya to dish out 2,300 civic posts for partymen

Elections, rallies and the birthday are over, and now it is the time for UP Chief Minister Mayawati to reward those who toiled hard at the grassroots level. The stage is set for the nomination of about 2,300 BSP workers as corporators in the municipal bodies. And to make this happen, the state Government has amended the rules, doing away with the provision that a nomination should be made only after getting a report on the antecedents of the candidate.

Nominated corporators have been given voting rights too. The fallout may be an unsettling effect in the bodies where the ruling party has a small majority. The BJP is the dominant party in municipal bodies, followed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. The BSP had not contested the local bodies election held in November 2007 on the ground that it was focussing on the assembly elections.

The Urban Development Department issued an order on January 16, effecting the changes. Under Section 9 of the UP Nagar Palika Act, 1916, a person having experience and knowledge in a special field may be nominated as corporator in a municipal body.