EC releases draft reservation list for upcoming civic polls

Kolkata: The draft list of reservation for civic polls in the state prepared by the state Election Commission that was released on Friday, has indicated that four Member Mayor-in-Councils (MMiCs) and two borough chairmen of Kolkata Municipal Corporation will not be able to contest from their own wards during the civic polls, which is likely to be held in the month of April. The commission will release the final list of reservation on February 10.

According to the draft list, eight out of 144 wards of KMC has come under SC reservation and three of these have been reserved for SC women, while 45 wards have been reserved for general women.

Ward 33, 58, 78, 107, 110, 127, 141 and 142 have come under SC reservation, out of which 33, 78 and 127 have gone to SC women.

The four MMiCs whose seats have come under reservation are Debabrata Majumder (Solid Waste Management), Swapan Samaddar (Environment and Bustee Development), Ratan Dey (Roads) and Baiswanor Chatterjee (Housing).

The MMiCs will not be able to contest in the wards from which they were elected in the last KMC polls. It may be mentioned that Majumder had won from ward 96, Samaddar from ward 58, Dey from ward 93 and Chatterjee from ward 90.

The ward of Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen has also been reserved for women. Sen may not be fielded for the civic elections this year. The wards of Borough Chairman Indrajit Dasgupta (XVI) and Susanta Kumar Ghosh (XII) have also come under reservation.

The draft reservation list for 93 urban local bodies in Bengal including KMC was released by the commission on Friday. The reservation in civic polls had started from 2009.

The other notable names of councillors who will not be able to contest from their respective wards are Pabitra Biswas of ward 33 in Beleghata, Nezamuddin Shams from ward 78 in Mominpore, Arup Chakraborty from ward 110 in Baghajatin, Sandipan Saha from ward 52 under New Market police station, Arun Kumar Das from ward 55 in Entally, Subrata Ghosh from ward 87 in Rashbehari, Tarun Mondal from ward 105 in Kasba and Debasish Mukherjee from ward 99 in Naktala. Mukherjee is the only Left councilor, with all others hailing from Trinamool Congress.

"We are all there to render service to the common people. We all work under the direction of our party supremo Mamata Banerjee. So the party will decide who will be fielded from which seat or which ward," said Municipal Affairs minister and city Mayor Firhad Hakim.

The political parties can voice their grievances, if any, against the draft reservation list, on or before January 27.