May 24, 2024 12:51 PM IST
The two BJP councillors had three children, which is in violation of the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963.
Two councillors from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat’s Amreli city were disqualified from the local body as they had three children. They were found to be in violation of the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963. The order for the same was issued by the office of Amreli district collector, Ajay Dahiya.
BJP leaders Khima Kasotiya and Meghna Bokha were disqualified from Amreli’s Damnagar Nagarpalika with immediate effect on Monday, reported The Indian Express. The Collector cited birth certificates put on record by Damnagar Municipal Chief Officer Krupesh Patel.
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While the disqualification of the councillors comes as a setback for the BJP in the midst of the election season, it will not impact the party’s grip on the civic body in Amreli.
The two councillors were summoned by the Collector’s office ahead of their disqualification. When they had contested the Damnagar civic body election in 2021, both Kasotiya and Bokha placed the birth certificates of two children on record.
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However, the new certificates indicated that Kasotiya,a BJP councillor from Ward No.2, and Bokha, BJP councillor from Ward No.3, became parents for the third time, which is in violation of the Gujarat Municipalities Act.
The collector noted in his order, “Keeping in mind the application submitted by the applicant, records produced as evidence in the case and merits and demerits of the case, following facts emerge… Respondent No.1 (Khima Kasotiya) and 2 (Meghna Bokha) had two children at the time of election to Damnagar municipality in 2021 and that a third child was born to respondent No.1 on May 10, 2023 and that a third child was born to respondent No.2 on March 14, 2023.”
Section 11(1)(h), which was added to the Gujarat Municipalities Act, states that party leaders will be ineligible to become councillors after their third child is born. The two BJP leaders were against the order as they argued that their third child was born after the civic body election, but their application was rejected.
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