Guest column: A mayor should serve a full five-year term

A 12 month tenure for the city mayor is a joke. What can he achieve in this time? This is the problem not only with the Bengaluru mayor, but also panchayat presidents, who do not have a long tenure in Karnataka. And as a result we are missing out on sustained development.

All committees and experts have suggested to the state government that it should allow for a directly elected mayor with a five year term for the city. But none of the Chief  Ministers  have had the courage to implement this recommendation. Their fear is that if the city has a directly elected mayor and if he enjoys power for five years he may develop  a power centre of his own and sideline the  Chief Minister. So our politicians are not keen on having a directly elected mayor for the city. In the process we have mayors, who last for a year and don’t achieve anything tangible in their limited term.

All developed countries have directly elected mayors with a five year term for their cities.  A few states in the country too have adopted this formula for their local body heads, starting from the panchayats onwards. I wish the state government would come out with necessary changes to ensure that the city gets a directly elected mayor in future and he is allowed to serve a full five year term in the interest of its development.