The Historical Context
The Government of India amended its Constitution in 1993 to have a third tier of governance which paved way for passing conformity legislation in all the States including Kerala. The Congress-led government, which was in rule in the State, came up with two bills - Kerala Panchayat Raj Bill and Kerala Municipality Bill - for conformity legislation. In the ensuing public debate, pro-decentralization thinkers and leaders from all political parties including the Indian National Congress, lobbied for introducing amendments for a better legislation on decentralization. Intellectuals and non-governmental organisations took the lead in organising public opinion. Finally, an amended version of the bills were passed in the legislative assembly.
Later,elections to the local governments were conducted by the Congress led government under the Chief Ministership of A.K. Antony. Sixty percentage of the local governments were won by the then opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidates while the remaining 40% went to the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidates.
Read more about this topic: People's Planning In Kerala
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