The Maharashtra legislative Assembly on Monday passed an amendment to an act, under which heads of nagar parishads and panchayats can be elected directly by the voters.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the bill to amend the Maharashtra Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act 1965.

The amendment was introduced to change the existing practice of elected representatives choosing the heads of nagar parishad or municipal council.

Raising objection to the bill, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said, "This is against the spirit of democracy. This government has not only played with the democratic norms, but has also given excess powers to the elected heads. This will cause frustration among elected members, as most of the powers are delegated to the head."

"This is not what the Constitution had envisaged. The amendment would restrict candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities to become the city head. Earlier, the posts of civic heads used to be reserved for women, SC, ST, OBC or open. There is no such provision in the amendment," Pawar claimed.

However, the amendment was later passed with majority voting in favour of it.