Notwithstanding the political motives, direct elections for the posts of sarpanch and municipal council president are welcome developments. More From Livemint »India needs directly elected and empowered mayors for all its big cities. Indeed, some of the states do hold direct elections for mayors. Sometimes, directly elected mayors run into corporations dominated by members of rival political parties. Tharoor’s Bill on direct elections for mayors included a provision for a mayor-in-council that would be nominated by the directly elected mayor.

Source: Mint July 11, 2017 20:48 UTC