Petition filed to hold municipal polls in Bengal; HC hearing on Nov 17

The court on Monday said it will hear the petition seeking direction to hold municipal polls in the state

The Calcutta High Court on Monday said it will hear on November 17 a petition seeking direction to the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold elections to all municipalities and municipal corporations of the state at the earliest.

Petitioner's lawyer Sabyasachi Chatterjee submitted that elections to more than 100 civic bodies including municipal corporations of Kolkata and Howrah have been due for a long time.

Taking up the petition on Monday, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice I P Mukerji directed the petitioner to serve notice to all the parties in the matter, including the West Bengal government and the SEC.

It directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing on November 17.

Chatterjee said the tenure of over 100 municipal bodies have long expired and the state government has been running them by appointing councillors and mayors or chairmen as coordinators of wards and administrators of the bodies respectively citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

The petitioner prayed for a direction to the SEC and the state government to immediately start the process of holding polls for all the municipalities and municipal corporations in the state, where it is due.

The SEC holds local body elections following recommendations by the state government.

Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Chandrima Bhattacharya recently said the government has held preliminary discussions about conducting polls in all civic bodies with the SEC.