The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra cabinet has formally decided to scrap two legislations of the previous BJP government led by the Chief Minister at the time, Devendra Fadnavis.
One of these decisions is to cut the voting rights of farmers with regards to APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) elections. The elections will now be voted on only by members of agricultural credit societies, gram panchayats, and cooperative societies respectively. The Fadnavis government gave voting rights to 1.36 crore farmers back in 2017.
The government mentioned that allowing farmers to vote had resulted in higher expenditures as well as delays in elections. Responding to the reversal, Fadnavis said: “Farmers have been exploited by the APMCs for many years and the amendment that our government got gave them the right to choose their own APMC committee,” adding that the government has proven to be anti-farmer.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led government also announced the removal of legislation that allowed directly electing presidents and deputy presidents of municipal councils. The change recommends electing presidents and deputy presidents through the means of councillors.
Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif (NCP) said that an ordinance will be placed before the cabinet soon. He also mentioned “differences” between the president and municipal council members as the reason for the reversal of this legislation.