AMC Mayor Priyam Devi, Dy Mayor Malati Devi ousted

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : Mayor, Ara Municipal Corporation ( AMC), Priyam Devi, and Deputy Mayor, AMC, Malati  Devi, lost their respective office after a No Trust Motion was passed against them by majority on June 28, 2019.

Municipal Commissioner Dhirendra Paswan, had convened a special meeting of the AMC on June 28, 2019, to discuss the No-confidence motion moved by Ward Councillors against the Mayor and  Deputy Mayor. Thirty-seven of the 45 Ward Councillors were present at the meeting while Mayor Priyam Devi, Deputy Mayor Malati Devi, and Councillors Mithlesh Kumar Singh alias Munna Kushwaha (Ward No 28), Rekha Jain (Ward No 22), Aleem (Ward No 27), Baijnath Prasad( Ward No 8), Amit Kumar Gupta( Ward No 21), Sunita Devi ( Ward No 36) were absent.

Ward Councillor Pushpa Singh proposed name of Bhupendra Kumar Ram alias Satyendra Kumar for presiding over the meeting of the AMC while Paras Nath Singh seconded it. Bhupendra Kumar Ram told the Ward Councillors that the meeting was convened to discuss No Confidence Motion against the Mayor and  Deputy Mayor of the AMC for their alleged misbehaviour and hampering development works misguiding people and read out the matters mentioned in the Motion. He also said that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor should be present at the meeting but both of them did not come to attend the meeting.

After discussion, the decision was taken through secret ballot in which all the 37 Ward Councillors attending the meeting took part and voted in favour of the No Confidence Motion. Three of 37 votes against the Mayor was cancelled due to some technical fault while all the 37 votes against the Deputy Mayor were found valid.

Since upgradation of Ara Municipality to Ara Municipal Corporation in 2009, several No Confidence Motion were moved but every time the decision was taken through direct voting and it was for the first time white secret ballot was adopted.

The AM Ward Councillors had moved a No Confidence Motion against the Mayor on June 11, 2019, in her absence. When the Mayor did not convene the meeting within time, the Councillors again moved a No Confidence Motion on June 18, 2019, under the Bihar Municipality Act and the Municipal Commissioner fixed June 28, 2019, for the meeting to discuss the Motion.

Mayor  Priyam Devi had moved to Patna High Court and filed a writ petition requesting the court to stay the proceeding on health ground but the Court rejected her plea.