NITI Aayog member calls for directly elected mayors and stronger city governments

NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba has called for directly elected mayors with five-year terms, a Mayor-in-Council system and timely municipal elections as part of reforms to strengthen city governments. The recommendations were reported in a PIB release on 25 October 2026 following his address at the second National Urban Conclave.

Referring to a city-governance report jointly developed by NITI Aayog and the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, he urged States to give urban local bodies greater authority over functions such as master planning, water supply, fire services and traffic. The release presents these as reform recommendations; it does not announce that every State has adopted a new municipal law or changed its mayoral election system.

Gauba also called for stronger municipal finances, regular State Finance Commissions and adequate transfers from States to cities. On planning and housing, he advocated mixed-use zoning, development around transit hubs, land pooling and more affordable rental housing. These proposals are distinct from approved local projects, revised property-tax rates or housing entitlements.

He urged States to pursue the changes through municipal legislation and asked the Union ministry to link reform implementation with support under urban missions. The announcement does not provide a nationwide commencement date or a binding implementation schedule for individual cities.

Source: NITI Aayog, Press Information Bureau, release dated 25 October 2026. Original KROV English reporting and Telugu adaptation; proposals are attributed to the speaker and are not presented as enacted rules.