State Act

The Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965.

10. Division of municipal area into wards and reservation of wards for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.— 7[(1) Subject to the provisions of section 9,— (a) the State Government shall with the approval of the State Election Commissioner, from time to time, by an order published in the Official Gazette, fix for each municipal area, the number and the extent of the wards into which such area shall be divided: Provided that, before the publication of any such order, the State Government with the approval of the State Election Commissioner shall cause to be placed on the notice board, in the municipal office and in such other places in the municipal area as it thinks fit, a draft of the order proposed to be made by it, for the information of all residents of the municipal area and shall cause a notice to be published in atleast one newspaper circulating in the area announcing its intention to publish such order and inviting all persons who entertain any objections to the draft order aforesaid to submit the same to it in writing, with reason therefor, within seven days from the date of publication of the notice in the newspaper; (b) the State Election Commissioner shall, by an order published in the Official Gazette, specify the wards in which seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Backward Class of Citizens and Women (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Class of Citizens). The State Election Commissioner shall, while passing any such seats are reserved by rotation in different wards in the municipal area, so that all the wards shall get the benefit of such reservation: Provided that, before the publication of any such order, the State Election Commissioner shall cause to be placed on the notice board in his office, in the municipal office and in such other places in the municipal area as he thinks fit, a draft of the order proposed to be made by him, for the information of all residents of the municipal area and shall cause a notice to be published in atleast one newspaper circulating in the area announcing his intention to publish such order and inviting all persons who entertain any objections to the draft order aforesaid to submit the same to him in writing, with reason therefor, within seven days from the date of publication of the notice in the newspaper.] 1[* * * * * *] 2[(2) Each of the wards shall elect only one Councillor.] 3[Provided that, after the commencement of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Mah. X of 2022), in respect of the general elections to the Municipal Councils, each of the wards shall elect as far as possible two Councillors but not more than three Councillors, and each voter shall, notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (2) of section 14, be entitled to cast the same number of votes, as the number of councillors to be elected in his ward.] (3) Every order issued under sub-section (1) shall take effect for the purpose of the next general election immediately following the date of such order. (4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent women or persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, 4[Scheduled Tribes or 5[Backward Class of Citizens] for whom seats are reserved in in any Council] from standing for election and being elected to any of the seats which are not reserved. 6[(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) and (3) or any other provisions of this this Act, where a municipal area has been extended under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 6, after the General Elections, an election to provide for representation to the people of the extended area may be held as soon as practicable, and the provisions of sub-section (1) shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to such election: Provided that, the total number of wards in the municipal area including the wards newly constituted for the extended area under this sub-section shall not exceed the number of electoral wards specified in the Table in clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 9: Provided further that, the population of the wards newly constituted under this sub-section may marginally exceed or be below the average population of the other wards: Provided also that, the term of the Councillors elected from the wards newly constituted under this sub-section shall be co-terminus with the term of the Council. (6) No elections under sub-section (5) shall be held if the remainder of the tenure of the Council is less than one year.]