The State Election Commission (SEC) today announced that the counting of votes for the civic polls in the remaining 108 municipalities across the state will be held on 2 March. The elections in these civic bodies are scheduled to be held on 27 February. Polling would be held from 7 am to 5 pm.
The announcement came on a day when the Calcutta High Court had asked whether it would be possible to hold the elections through deployment of central forces. The court has also sought an affidavit from the state government seeking its opinion on whether Duare Sarkar camps can be stopped temporarily under the jurisdictional area of the 108 poll-bound municipalities. The matter will be heard again on Monday. The BJP on Monday had moved Calcutta High Court demanding that central forces be deployed during the municipal elections on 27 February.
BJP state president Dr Sukanta Majumdar had also written a letter to the SEC on Sunday, demanding the cancellation of polls in Bidhannagar and Asansol. The process for filing nomination and for withdrawal is already over as 12 February was the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The election for Howrah Municipal Corporation is yet to be declared as the defining process for Bally from Howrah has not been completed. So, in Howrah district, there will be polling only in Uluberia Municipality.
The election in Kolkata Municipal Corporation was held in December and on 12 February, polls were held in four other municipal corporations namely Bidhannagar, Asansol, Siliguri and Chandernagore. The votes were counted on 14 February and Trinamul Congress won a landslide victory with a huge margin. The commission has also been directed to preserve the CCTV footage of the polling booths during the civic polls where elections were held in four municipal corporations.
The state in its affidavit will also inform the court about its stand regarding BJP’s allegations of disturbance in the recently concluded civic polls in the four urban local bodies. Meanwhile, the SEC has asked the returning officers of all the poll bound civic bodies to arrange strong room facilities under their jurisdictional area. Counting will be held in a centralised place in the respective municipality areas. According to the draft list there will be 10813 polling booths spread across 4851 polling premises. The total number of voters is 95. 59 lakhs.