Mumbai: The state government has made an amendment in the nagarpanchayat Act 1965 and now the chairman of the panchayat too would be elected directly by the people. The same was made applicable to the gram panchayat and nagarpalika elections this year, which reportedly helped the ruling BJP in the local body polls.

Justifying the move, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that he had raised the issue when he was in opposition.

“I had raised this issue when we were in the opposition. Back then, late chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had also agreed to it. In fact, in other states, the chairman has always been elected directly. We have already amended the act for nagarpalika and gram panchayats. Only Nagapanchats were left. However, this amendment would make the provision,” Mungantiwar said. After the cabinet approval, the governor would be requested to issue an ordinance in this regard. An amendment bill would be presented in the session of the legislature in December 2017.