EC reschedules polls to 4 municipal corporations in Bengal to Feb 12 amid rising Covid cases

The West Bengal Election Commission on Saturday postponed polls to four municipal corporations by three weeks to February 12 in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases. According to a notification issued by the SEC, polls to Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Asansol Municipal Corporation would now be held on February 12 instead of January 22.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm it said.

Earlier in the day, the state government sent a letter to the SEC, giving its consent to reschedule the election dates, owing to the present pandemic situation.

The Calcutta High Court had also asked the commission to explore the possibility of postponing the civic polls by four to six weeks in view of the surge in cases.