Breaking the glass ceiling: Lucknow to elect first-ever woman mayor in 100 years

Lucknow: Breaking the glass ceiling, the city of Nawabs, Lucknow, will create history on Sunday by electing its first-ever woman mayor in 100 years. All the parties have fielded female candidates after the Lucknow mayoral seat was reserved for women. [caption id=“attachment_4226325” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BSP’s Bulbul Godiyal. News18 Hindi[/caption] The civic polls will be held in the state capital on Sunday in the second leg of the three-phase municipal elections across Uttar Pradesh. The city got its chance to elect a woman mayor 100 years after the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act came into existence. “But better late than never,” says BSP candidate Bulbul Godiyal. The Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting the civic polls on its party symbol - elephant - after 17 years. “Our time has come,” feels Sanyukta Bhatia, the BJP mayor candidate. The Samajwadi Party has selected Meera Vardhan, kin of educationist Acharya Narendra Dev and the Congress has pitched Prema Awasthi, wife of the late former Congress legislator, Surendra Nath. The Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act came into being in 1916 and Barrister Syed Nabiullah became the first Indian to head the local body. In 1948, the Uttar Pradesh government changed the electoral nature of the local body and introduced the concept of administrator and Bhairav Datt Sanwal (ICS) was appointed to the post. In 1959, the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916, was replaced by the Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, paving the way for the formation of the municipal corporation (nagar mahapalika) in Lucknow on 1 February, 1960. It was on the intervention of the Allahabad High Court in 1989 that the government announced local bodies polls. An amendment in the Constitution accorded the status of municipal corporation to Lucknow’s local body retrospectively from 31 May, 1994. Provisions were made in the Municipality Act of 1959 to allow citizens to elect a mayor. Provision of reservation to women, SCs, STs and OBCs was also made on a rotational basis.