The election to the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Belagavi City Corporation would be held on Feb 6, 2023 that is after 518 days of being elected.
The post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the Belagavi city corporation has been reserved for Women.
The mayor post has been reserved for Women – General while the post of Deputy Mayor has been reserved for Backward Classes B – Women.
The results of the election to the Belagavi city corporation elections were declared on Sep 6, 2021, where the BJP won with a thumping majority of 35 seats in the 58-ward Belagavi Corporation. The same has also been published in the Official Gazette.
BJP doesn’t have any women candidate from the Backward Classes B and hence it would be interesting to see who gets the Deputy Mayors post.
But since then, neither the elected councilors have taken the oath nor the first meeting of the council been held.
As per the KMC act sec 42. President and vice-president.—(1) For every municipal council, there shall be a president(Mayor) and a vice-president (Deputy Mayor).
The Councillors shall be at the first meeting of the Municipal Council after the general election.
The Mayor is the ‘first citizen’ of a city. But in reality, as in most municipal corporations in India, the Mayor is more often a figurehead.
A ‘one-year wonder intended only for ceremonial purposes’ is how the 2008 Kasturirangan Committee Report ‘Governance in Bengaluru Metropolitan Region and BBMP’ describes the Mayor. This is because Mayor’s powers are restricted by the law itself. According to the KMC (Karnataka Municipal Corporation) Act, 1976, Mayor only has a one-year term and has no executive powers.
This was for the first time in the history of Belagavi that the election to the council was held on party symbols and the BJP got a thumping majority.