BENGALURU: With the Assembly elections over, Bengaluru ’s citizen groups have revived the subject of having a mayor with expansive powers over city affairs and with jurisdiction over power, transport and water utilities and other government agencies dealing with Bengaluru’s issues. What the city now has, they argue, is a mayor for the city municipal corporation which is not the same as having a mayor for Benglauru.A mayor directly elected by people with jurisdiction over BBMP, BMTC, BWSSB, BMRCL and other entities will be able to meet people’s aspirations, they say.“As we have prime ministerial and chief ministerial candidates, the citizens should also know who is going to be their mayor and what’s their vision for the city. Having an election for mayoral candidates will certainly improve coordination and accountability. In the present system, we do not know whom to hold accountable as we have a mayor every year,” Srinivas Alavilli, co-ordinator at Citizens for Bengaluru , said.Alavilli argued that the post of Bengaluru development minister is unconstitutional. “Having a minister for Bengaluru is just like making a minister for Karnataka in the Union government. The state government cannot decide what a city wants. It’s the responsibility of the local body. London is a role model. They have directly-elected mayors who are very powerful,” he added.G Padmavathi, a former mayor, said she could not complete many projects during her term. “I had taken up the renovation of KR Market. During my term, only painting was complete while other works are still incomplete. Same is in the case with Indira Canteen. We also have certain limitations because agencies such as BWSSB and BESCOM are out of our control. It needs to be changed and the city needs a mayor with a fiveyear term,” she added.Mathew Idiculla, a researcher on urban policy, said Bengaluru has the worst system of governance. “The mayor is neither directly elected by people nor holds any executive powers. It makes no sense to hold the post for just one year, a term which is too short to implement any programmes”.Idiculla was quick to add that he would prefer a mayor with a five-year term. “In states such as Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, the concept of directly-elected mayor failed as the mayor represented one party while the majority of councillors belonged to the other. In these cases, there is a high chance of the council passing a resolution which need not be in favour of what the mayor stands for,” he added.The draft Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, which was prepared by the BBMP restructuring committee in 2015, had suggested a three-tier governance framework for Bengaluru (ward, municipal corporation, Greater Bengaluru Authority). “The Greater Bengaluru Authority, which integrates all the civic activities and takes responsibility for planning and administration, should have a directly-elected mayor with five-year term,” said V Ravichandar, a member of the BBMP restructuring committee.“It’s pointless to have a directlyelected mayor in the current system where most government agencies are out of BBMP control. There needs to be a structural change in the governance for the mayor to deliver, like it happens in London,” he added.