The West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) on Thursday informed the Calcutta High Court that it is ready to conduct all pending civic polls in the state in two phases.
Advocate Jayant Mitra, appearing for WBSEC, told the court that out of 111 pending civic polls, the commission is ready to hold municipal elections in Howrah, Chandannagar, Bidhannagar, Siliguri and Asansol on January 22 in the first phase.
Advocate Mitra told the court, “In the second phase, the state election body has made all preparations for holding pending elections to the remaining 106 municipal bodies in West Bengal on February 27.”
The pending civic polls became a point of contention in Bengal between the ruling TMC and the BJP, which demanded simultaneous elections for all municipal bodies in the state, which have been pending for a long time.
Based on the BJP’s petition filed by senior leader Pratap Banerjee in the court, the Calcutta High Court sought response from the WBSEC and the state government on the civic polls pending on November 16.
WBSEC officials told the court that they are ready to hold elections in Kolkata and Howrah as the COVID-19 situation is under control and conducting phased polling will help them manage the crowd.
Though the Trinamool Congress has been buoyed by its stellar election performance, the BJP is hot on its heels and has demanded that all pending civic polls in the state should be held simultaneously and not selectively as per the convenience of the TMC.
State BJP leaders see the move to conduct elections in a phased manner and say the TMC’s move has been prompted by the opposition party’s failure to bag a single MLA seat in the three constituencies and the Trinamool taking advantage of a favorable political situation. wants.
Recently, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar called upon State Election Commissioner (SEC) Saurabh Das not to become an ‘extension’ of the ruling TMC government in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, announcing the name of Firhad Hakim as the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauded the State Election Commission and police for conducting peaceful elections.
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