This is the third challenge—directly elected member belonging to a party in minority in the municipality—in empowering a directly elected mayor. (An aside: Shimla’s example should not mislead us into a belief that BJP is for directly elected mayors and Congress is not. An empowered office of a directly elected mayor is desirable. A legislator will always see the directly elected and empowered mayor as a potential future rival and will do everything in his command to undercut his authority. Even if the mayor is directly elected, the state governments can refuse to devolve power and resources, effectively reducing him to a figurehead.

Source: Mint August 12, 2016 05:26 UTC