Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday instructed the West Bengal Election Commission to consult the ruling Trinamool Congress government and start the process of the municipal elections across the state except the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) election.
As West Bengal is all set to witness the assembly polls in the next couple of months, Calcutta High Court had instructed the state Election Commission to conduct elections in all 100 Municipalities in the state with the exception of that of KMC.
The High Court Division Bench, comprising Justices Indraprasanna Mukhopadhyay and Mohammad Nijamuddin, on Friday gave this verdict while hearing a PIL filed by CPI(M) leaders from Howrah.
It is to be noted that the Howrah Municipal Corporation had completed its tenure back in December 10, 2018.
The Left Front Howrah secretary Biplab Majumdar claimed that the ruling Trinamool Congress government did not conduct the polls fearing the loss of the corporation.
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said that the TMC is just following the trend set by the former Left Front government by not conducting the polls.
Notably, since a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court regarding elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Calcutta High Court didn’t deliver any verdict on the KMC.
It is pertinent to mention that the apex court had time-and-again asked the West Bengal Election Commission to announce the date of the KMC polls. Following the court’s order, the West Bengal administration decided to conduct the polls in March this year, which the KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim had hinted to postpone further.
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