Elections to four municipal corporations in Bengal on Jan 22

The West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday announced that polls to four municipal corporations — Siliguri, Chandannagar, Bidhannagar, Asansol — will be held on January 22.

The commission left out Howrah Municipal Corporation, amid the ongoing row between the Mamata Banerjee government and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over a bill seeking its bifurcation.

Making the announcement at his office here, State Election Commissioner Saurav Das said that nomination filing for the January 22 polls will commence on December 28.

”The last date for submitting nomination is January 3. The papers will be scrutinised the day after. January 6 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawing the nominations,” Das told reporters.

Of the four, Asansol is the largest municipal corporation with 106 seats, followed by Siliguri with 47, Chandannagar with 33 and Bidhannagar with 41 wards, he said.

Repoll, if any, will be conducted on January 24, the SEC said.

Counting of votes will be held on January 25, 2022.

”The commission has adopted electoral rolls updated up to November 1, 2021,” Das said.

He also said that model code of conduct will be applicable in the poll-bound areas from Monday.

The governor on Sunday said that he had on November 24 sent back the bifurcation bill — which seeks to carve out Bally Municipality out of Howrah Municipal Corporation — to the state government with a number of queries for which clarifications have not been provided thus far. The SEC and the West Bengal government had earlier told the Calcutta High Court that plans were afoot to hold elections to five municipal corporations in the state on January 22 and the remaining civic bodies, where polls are due, on February 27.

Elections to Kolkata Municipal Corporation were held on December 19.