More time should be allowed for an operational handover of town councils (TCs) when there is a change of political party in the ward, with the Ministry of National Development (MND) playing a “bigger role” in facilitating the process. This was among the suggestions town councils gave during the MND’s review of the controversial sale of software by People’s Action Party (PAP) town councils to Action Information Management (AIM), a PAP-owned company. The MND report released Friday said that the review surfaced “a broader issue” of how to ensure continuity of services to residents in the event of a change of Members of Parliament (MPs). “The main issue is how to ensure continuity of the services to residents while allowing the newly-elected MPs full authority and accountability immediately after an election,” added the MND Town Council Review Team.  SMU Assistant Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan commented that more “robust” rules should be put in place to deal with the handover of town councils, as fewer six-MP Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) and smaller GRCs were introduced during the 2011 General Election.