Bhubaneswar: The Assembly on Tuesday passed two bills to make legislative provisions for direct elections to posts of mayors for municipal corporations and heads of municipalities or notified councils in Odisha.

Two legislative bills to amend the Odisha Municipal Corporation Act and the Odisha Municipal Act were passed and sent to the governor for final approval.

Housing and urban development minister Niranjan Pujari said: "The government decided to amend the laws to facilitate direct elections with a view to enhance the stature of mayors or civic body chiefs by giving popular electoral mandate from citizens of urban local areas, thereby improving the quality of leadership and governance."

Till now, such functionaries were elected indirectly from among the councillors.

The decision to hold direct elections to the offices of mayor or other civic body chiefs was taken by the state cabinet on September 7.

The move assumes significance as urban local body elections are due shortly.

The move is expected to bring transparency in the election for civic body chiefs and curb horse trading. The move could also make the civic body heads more accountable to people, according to political pundits.

Earlier, during the chief ministerial reign of Biju Patnaik, there was the provision of direct election to the offices of mayor and other civic body chiefs. But it was later withdrawn by the subsequent government.

Now, the Naveen Patnaik-led government felt it expedient to revive the system of direct election, said sources.

According to official sources, the system of direct election to the highest office of civic bodies is in vogue in several states, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.

Now, any person, who is a registered voter and with sound mind, can contest for the posts of mayor of municipal corporations or chairperson of municipalities or notified area councils. The government has also done away with a provision that disqualified those afflicted with leprosy.

"Since leprosy is a curable disease, there should not be any discrimination to contest urban body elections and accordingly, it was decided to suitably amend the existing law to enable the persons affected with leprosy to contest elections," said Pujari.