The State Election Commission today announced that municipal elections to Bidhanagar, Asansol, Chandernagore and Siliguri municipal corporations will be held on 22 January while nomination filing is to begin from tomorrow. The election body will hold a meeting with the police early next month to discuss security arrangements.

The state election commissioner Sourav Das today announced that the election body has decided to hold the polls to these four municipal corporations but no decision has been taken regarding the Howrah Municipal Corporation which of late has sparked a feud between Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state government. The polls to Bidhanagar, Asansol, Chandernagore and Siliguri municipal corporations will be held on 22 January while counting will be done on 25 January.

It was informed that candidates can start filing their nominations from tomorrow (28 December) while the last date of filing is 3 January, 2022. Nominations will be accepted from 11am to 3pm, except on Sundays and holidays under N.I Act. The date of scrutiny is on 4 January and last date of withdrawing candidature is 6 January. The state election commissioner further said that repolling, if any, will be held on 24 January. The election process will be completed by 28 January. The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect from 27 December.

The timing for polls on 22 January is from 7am to 5pm. Polling will be conducted using EVMs while the electoral roll of ECI being used is updated upto 01.11.2021. In terms of security, it was shared that all polling booths will have CCTV surveillance cameras while a meeting on security arrangements on polling day will be held on 4 January with the police.

However, on the topic of holding polls to the Howrah Municipal Corporation, Mr Das said that the state government though had earlier said that five municipal corporations will go for polling but it is yet to intimate the state election commission regarding Howrah. “I cannot take a decision unless the state informs me. The rule says that the state government shall in consultation with the state election commission fix the dates” he pointed out.

The decision to not hold election to the HMC has drawn severe flak from the opposition parties -BJP, Left and the Congress. The Left Front and the ongress walked out of the all party meeting called by the SEC relating to the elections. The Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today took to his social media handle to reiterate that Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 is pending consideration since the state government is yet to send the inputs sought by the Governor on the matter.