Visitors at the GMC office

Aug. 31: Confusion and chaos marred the general body meeting of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) today, which ended inconclusively over a debate on the voting rights of the ex-officio members.

While the Congress councillors insisted that the GMC Act provided the ex-officio members the right to vote in the election of the mayor, the Opposition refused to accept the argument.

The four legislators and the lone MP of Guwahati are ex-officio members of the corporation. All of them are from the Congress.

At present, the strength of the ruling Congress in the GMC is 28, one less than the strength of the Opposition.

The debate took a turn for the worse when the Opposition councillors started shouting anti-mayor slogans, seeking his resignation on the ground that he had been reduced to a minority after the two Independent and the lone Trinamul Gana Parishad councillor withdrew their support.

The Congress also contended that there was no provision in the constitution of the civic body to bring a no-confidence motion against the mayor. The four-hour drama continued till it was agreed that both sides would seek legal opinion on the dispute and meet again after a week.

Three Congress MLAs of Guwahati, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hemanta Talukdar and Pankaj Bora, were present at the meeting. Robin Bordoloi, who lost his mother recently, did not turn up.

The ruling Congress had invited the ex-officio members to today’s meeting to counter the Opposition’s belligerence.

The Congress held a council meeting at the Circuit House here last evening to give a final shape to its strategies for the meeting.

The Opposition launched a crusade against mayor Kushal Sarmah by demanding that he convene an urgent requisition meeting to prove his majority.

The Opposition councillors even accused Dispur of remaining a “silent spectator” to the ongoing crisis in the GMC.

NCP councillor Jayanta Boro accused Sarmah of violating the principles of democracy by continuing in the post of mayor even after the ruling party was reduced to a minority. “If the mayor fails to prove his majority at a requisition meeting, he should step down,” Boro said.

On Monday, over 300 people, accompanied by the 29 Opposition councillors, took out a rally from the Nationalist Congress Party office and hand over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

In the memorandum, copies of which were submitted to chief minister Tarun Gogoi and chief secretary J.P. Rajkhowa, the Opposition said the reluctance of Sarmah to convene a requisition meeting was a blatant violation of the GMC Act, as the mayor is bound to hold the meeting after the Independent councillors withdrew their support.

The memorandum was handed over to a magistrate, C.K. Bhuyan, at the district administration office. The tussle between the ruling Congress and the Opposition has affected development activities.