Howrah civic election on Jan 22: SEC tells Calcutta High Court

KOLKATA: Submitting the poll schedule before the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, the State Election Commission maintained that the remaining civic polls in the state would be held in two phases.

Senior advocate Jayanta Mitra, appearing for the State Election Commission, informed the court that the first phase of the remaining municipal polls would be held on January 22, 2022, and would include municipal bodies of Howrah, Chandannagar, Bidhannagar, Asansol and Siliguri. Furthermore, the court was apprised that the second phase of municipal polls would take place on February 27, 2022, for the remaining 119 municipal bodies.

The Calcutta High Court also reserved orders in two petitions filed by CPI(M) candidates alleging that booths were captured, votes were rigged and large-scale violence had taken place in the recently concluded Kolkata Municipal polls, which took place on December 19.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj, after hearing the counsels at length reserved orders in the matter.

"We will not be closing the petition, we will upload the order in a day or two on the website," remarked Chief Justice Shrivastava.

He further pointed out that the Bench will not be assembling for the issuance of the order due to the upcoming vacation. Accordingly, the matter has been listed for further hearing on January 6.