MillenniumPost
Bengal

State govt proposes 3 dates in April for Municipal polls

Kolkata: The state government has proposed to the Election Commission to hold elections for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) on April 12, while dates of the civic polls in the remaining 100 civic bodies have been suggested to be held on April 26 and 27 respectively.

However, elections of eight municipalities of Barrackpore will not take place as those will be brought under one Municipal corporation. The polls for Bidhannagar and Asansol Municipal Corporations are set to take place after Durga Puja.

According to sources in the state government, KMC and HMC elections are to be held on the same day and it will be before the Bengali New Year. The election process in the two major civic bodies will be completed before Ramzan. As many as 102 civic bodies will go to polls in April.

As per the norms of the Municipal elections, the state government proposes the dates and writes the same to the West Bengal State Election Commission. The Commission then finally announces the election dates.

Sources said the State Election Commission has started the necessary preparations for the polls. District Magistrates of Kolkata, Howrah and North 24-Parganas have been called for a meeting by the State Election Commission. Sourav Das, State Election Commissioner, will be holding a meeting with the DMs as well. At present, the DM of South 24-Parganas is in charge of Kolkata. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 1 pm on Wednesday.

One-and-a-half months are left for the elections to be held as the state government has proposed it in April. Sources stated that the meeting of the DMs in the State Election Commission will be all about the Municipal polls. The District Magistrates of all the areas where Municipal polls will take place will eventually be called by the State Election Commission.

The eight municipalities in North 24-Parganas that will come under Barrackpore Municipal Corporation are Titagarh, Barrackpore, North Barrackpore, Bhatpara, Naihati, Halisahar, Kanchrapara and Garulia. The tenure of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Asansol Municipal Corporation is till October 16. So the election in these two civic bodies will be held after Durga Puja.

The countdown to the Municipal polls has begun with the proposal of dates for the same by the state government. The political parties have started chalking out their plans and the remaining work to finalise the candidates have also begun.

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