Polls in 112 urban civic bodies likely in Dec

Kolkata: The state election commission is likely to conduct civic polls in the pending 112 urban civic bodies, including two municipal corporations—Kolkata and Howrah, in December.

Sources in the commission indicated that a notification in this regard may come out soon after the bypolls in four Assembly constituencies scheduled on October 30.

The state government is presently reviewing the Covid situation which is presently under control and if it continues to do so, it will be giving the green signal.

"The civic body elections are pending for more than 18 months because of the pandemic situation and the subsequent lockdown. We want to complete the civic polls as soon as possible. The financial sanctions from the finance department is still awaited. Once the state government gives us the clearance, we will be in a position to announce the dates," a senior official of the state election commission said.

A senior official of the state finance department admitted that the state election commission has asked for the financial sanction from the department.

Sources in the state government said that the commission has asked for Rs 185 crore to complete the polls in 112 municipalities.

The commission is planning to hold the polls in three phases. Polls in Kolkata and Howrah municipal corporations will be held in the first phase, the elections in the municipalities in South Bengal will be held in the second phase and the rest of the municipalities in North Bengal will be held in the third phase.

It may be recalled that before the Durga Puja holiday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself had hinted that the pending election of the civic bodies will be completed after the completion of the four-assembly bypolls in the state.