Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) on Friday to preserve all CCTV footage in connection with the recently held KMC polls on December 19. The division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava has asked the SEC to preserve the diary of the presiding officer, the signature and finger print of the voters.
The division bench also directed the Commission to preserve control unit of EVMs and its voting record. The court indicated to audit the videography conducted by the Commission.
Meanwhile, state Advocate General S N Mookherjee told the Chief Justice on Friday that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has given his accent to the Bill for bifurcating areas of erstwhile Bally municipality from Howrah Municipal Corporation. The move has paved way for holding separate elections in the two bodies. The SEC and the state government had told the Calcutta High Court on Thursday that it plans to conduct elections in five municipal corporations — Howrah, Asansol, Bidhannagar, Chandannagar and Siliguri — on January 22 and the remaining civic bodies on February 27.
Later in the day, State Election Commissioner Sourav Das called on Dhankhar and discussed issues related to pending municipal polls. The Governor later tweeted that the Bill regarding Howrah Municipality was still under his consideration.