Municipal polls: Opposition demands ample time for campaigning, TMC scoffs at it

Opposition parties in West Bengal demanded "ample time" on Thursday to campaign for the upcoming municipal polls, likely to be held in mid-April, as the state board exams will continue till March-end.

This was scoffed at by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), which asked the opposition parties not to find "lame excuses, sensing an imminent defeat".

The opposition parties -- CPI(M), Congress and BJP -- said they "sniffed a conspiracy" by the TMC to stop them from getting enough time to campaign and reach out to the voters.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation met the state election commissioner on Thursday, demanding "ample time" to campaign for the municipal polls.

The secondary exams of the state board, which started on February 18, will end on February 27. The higher secondary exams will be held from March 12 to March 27.

Restrictions are in place on the use of loudspeakers due to the board exams.

According to the state government and State Election Commission (SEC) sources, dates between April 12 and April 26 are being mulled for the election to 107 civic bodies in the state and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which is being billed as the "mini Assembly polls" ahead of the crucial 2021 state election.

"We are ready to face the civic polls, but where is the time for campaigning? We will get only 10-12 days for it. This is a conspiracy by the state government to ensure that the BJP does not get enough time to campaign," senior party leader Mukul Roy told reporters here.

He said the BJP has demanded that the election schedule, when notified, should strictly be adhered to.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sujan Chakraborty and state Congress president Somen Mitra echoed the saffron party's view and said the TMC should not announce the election dates in a "hush hush manner" by citing the board exams.

"All the parties should get ample time for campaigning," Chakraborty said.

The TMC was quick to hit back, saying the BJP was trying to find excuses as its defeat in the polls was imminent.

"The entire state knows that the KMC and municipal polls are held in April. What were they (BJP) doing for all these months? Were they sleeping?.... These are lame excuses on the face of an imminent defeat," senior TMC leader and state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said.

State Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim mocked the opposition parties, saying, "Only those students, who are sure of failure, want the exam dates to be postponed."