KOLKATA: Calcutta High Court has directed the state election commission (SEC) and the Bengal government to file affidavits stating their plans to hold civic polls other than in Kolkata by Monday (December 6), when the court takes up the matter again for hearing.
The HC asked the SEC for a detailed plan mentioning the minimum phases as the state in its earlier affidavit had said that it wanted to hold municipal polls in phases by April 30, 2022.
BJP petitioner Pratap Banerjee had moved the HC praying for single-day municipal polls across the state or at least counting of votes in a day. The SEC, in the meantime, announced the Kolkata civic polls on December 19, initiating the election process in the city.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj observed that SEC, a constitutional body, had the responsibility of holding polls in all municipalities where the elected board’s five-year tenure had expired.
In his affidavit-in-opposition, SEC joint secretary Indranil Mukhopadhyay said each of the 112 municipalities was a separate body and “there is no specific or mandatory requirement of law to conduct polls to all municipal bodies across the state simultaneously or fix a common date for publication of results”.
SEC senior counsel Jayanta Mitra contended that the commission could not fix poll dates on its own and cited Section 8 of West Bengal State Election Act, 1994, that provides that the election panel, unlike the Election Commission, has to fix and announce dates “in consultation with the state”.
SEC, in another affidavit, clarified its position on the SEC senior counsel’s submission made on November 16. “The senior counsel had stated… that the Commission will not issue the notification for elections till the next returnable date. The statement, if at all made, was inadvertent and could not have been made,” SEC stated.
The affidavit further said “…the existing strength of EVMs does not allow simultaneous elections in all the 112 municipalities where elections have fallen due”. Mitra pointed out that SEC had never conducted elections to all 112 municipalities in a day.
Bengal advocate general S N Mookherjee told the court why the state began municipal polls with Kolkata. “The vaccination rate is quite high in Kolkata. Everyone in Kolkata has got the first dose, while 90% has got the second dose,” he said. “The SEC has 15,867 EVMs while the requirement is 30,173,” he added.
Mookherjee further submitted that the state and SEC would firm up the municipal poll plan considering law and order issues, border problems and the board exams.
