In New York, a mayor is elected every four years.
The election of the Mayor of New York City in America is in great discussion at the moment. The job of the Mayor of New York is considered to be the second most difficult job in America after the President. Let us know how the mayor is elected in New York? How many powers and responsibilities does he have and how different is he from an Indian mayor?
In New York, a mayor is elected every four years. The process of electing the mayor is completed in several stages. This election takes place in the next year after the election of the US President. For this, first primary elections are held at the party level. The candidates who top in this take part in the elections. From the year 2021, the mayor of New York is elected through ranked choice voting.
ranking system
In this process, voters give ranks from one to five to maximum five candidates as per their choice. To become mayor, any candidate must get more than 50 percent of the first rank or preference votes. Until this happens, the candidates getting the least votes are removed and their votes are also transferred to the second priority. Even after this, if no candidate achieves majority, then general elections are usually held among these candidates in November. The winning candidate becomes the Mayor of New York, who takes charge on January 1 of the next year.
The Mayor of New York assumes office on January 1.
Who can contest mayor’s election?
To contest the election for the post of Mayor of New York, one must be an American citizen. The age of the candidate must be at least 18 years on the day of election. Not only this, he must be a resident of New York City for at least one year before the election. Apart from this, parties select their candidates on the basis of strong political background, activeness in public activities, ability to raise funds for elections.
extremely powerful and responsible position
The Mayor of New York, America’s largest city, is very powerful and the responsibility of governance and security of the entire city rests on his shoulders. He has all the executive powers. The mayor is in charge of the huge administration of New York. He makes changes or amendments in the policies. He is responsible for rescuing the people of his city from any emergency.
It is the mayor’s responsibility to deal with issues like economic development of the city, improvement in the education sector and public safety. It is even said that the Mayor of New York is no less than a global leader. The city’s legislative government is administered from City Hall in Lower Manhattan, New York. He is also responsible for the appointment and removal of key officers of New York.
Indian-origin Zohran Kwame Mamdani is being considered as the frontrunner in the race for New York Mayor. Photo: AP/PTI
The responsibility of security also rests on the shoulders of the mayor.
In India, the mayor has the responsibility of the development of the city. Here, the Mayor is responsible for the management of roads, parks, drains, street lights etc. coming under the Municipal Corporation through the Municipal Corporation Administration. The Municipal Corporation makes budget provision for this through its entire income. Some educational institutions are also run by the Municipal Corporation. On the other hand, the Mayor of New York is the leader of the entire city. He makes policies for the city. Not only education, the responsibility of the security of the city also rests on the shoulders of the Mayor of New York. In India, the responsibility of city security rests with the local police, which is under the state government.
Indian origin Zoharan ahead in the race
This time, Indian-origin Zohran Kwame Mamdani is said to be ahead in the race for the election of Mayor of New York. He was born in the year 1991 in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. His Indian-origin father named him Kwame as his middle name, after Ghana’s first Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah. Mamdani moved to South Africa at the age of five from Kampala, where his father was a professor. Then came to New York at the age of seven. He entered politics there in the year 2020, when he was elected to the New York Assembly.
After this, he won the nomination from the Democratic Party by defeating Andrew Cuomo in the election for the post of Mayor of New York and is now said to be at the forefront of this race. To win the hearts of people of Indian origin, he is seen campaigning in Hindi. If he wins the election, he will be the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor of New York.
Mayor has less authority in India
There is a post of Mayor in India but in terms of authority it is nowhere near New York. It can be said that in India the Mayor has the responsibility of the development of the city. But, most of the decisions are taken by the bureaucracy.
It would be more appropriate to say that in India the Mayor, as the first citizen of the city, is best suited to welcome distinguished persons like PM, CM.
In India, the mayor is responsible for the management of roads, parks, drains, street lights etc. coming under the municipal corporation through the municipal administration. The Municipal Corporation makes budget provision for this through its entire income. Some educational institutions are also run by the Municipal Corporation.
In India, the mayor is not able to use even the powers that he has on paper, due to many reasons. Sometimes this happens due to lack of information and sometimes due to political reasons.
Also read: How did China become a nuclear power, how many nuclear weapons does the dragon have?