In contrast to high-pitched Assembly polls in West Bengal earlier this year, the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation are a muted phenomenon. Even though the elections are being held after a gap of six years, the frantic electioneering that is characteristic of polls in West Bengal is missing.
Political observers feel the results are a foregone conclusion. The Trinamool Congress had a lead in 132 of the 144 wards five months ago and there are little chances that the results would be different this time. But what is surprising about the civic polls that there is not much discussion about civic issues.
About 40.48 lakh voters will on Sunday exercise their franchise to elect 144 civic representatives, who will choose a Mayor and an elected board who will administer the city for the next five years.
Political observers feel the TMC’s rhetoric was that people of the city should have faith in Jana Netri (People’s Leader) Mamata Banerjee and support the Trinamool Congress nominees who are accessible to the people.
The BJP leadership has been promising a “Sanatani and patriotic Mayor” who will “root out corruption of the existing board of administrators of KMC”. The TMC’s four-page manifesto Kolkatar 10 Diganta [Ten milestones for Kolkata] has photographs of the party’s chairperson on the first and last page. The four-page manifesto of the BJP is also filled with photographs of party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi on first page and the party symbol on the last page. Like the TMC, the BJP’s promises for civic polls are summed up in two pages. In fact, much of the BJP campaign was on deployment of central forces for civic polls rather than what better civic infrastructure will the party provide to the people.
The biggest omission in both the manifestos is air pollution in Kolkata. Experts say there have been instances in past few years that the Air Quality Index in Kolkata was worse than Delhi but no promises have been made on the issue. In May 2020, Kolkata braved one of the worst cyclones of recent times, Cyclone Amphan. The frequent cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and their location and proximity of the city to the sea poses a need for robust disaster management, which did not find a mention in the manifestos.
“There is a section in the TMC manifesto which refers to improving civic facilities for people with disability. The Bengali version of the manifesto refers to Braille path nirman (Braille roads) which does not make any sense. Policy makers can consult experts while drafting such promises,” Shampa Sengupta, disability rights activist, said.
Issues like piped drinking water, water-logging during monsoon, improving drainage were not debated or discussed during the campaign for the civic body elections.
“It is a civic poll with no focus on civic issues. There is no discussion on how the KMC can be made self-sufficient,” political commentator and psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty said.
