Kolkata, Nov 24, : , The Calcutta High Court is set to hear a BJP plea to conduct elections in all West Bengal municipalities.On Wednesday, confusion over issuing notification for polls to Kolkata and Howrah grew. The petition will be heard by the Chief Justice Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava’s high court bench on November 29.
The West Bengal government had reached an agreement with the State Election Commission (SEC), to hold elections for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and the Howrah Municipal Corporation in December 19.
The petition was filed by the BJP asking the SEC to conduct the pending election in 112 municipalities with the two corporations.In its affidavit, the SEC stated that it would not notify the polls until the hearing is over.
The situation is so that the SEC must notify the polls by Thursday in order to hold the elections on December 19.
“According the Constitutional provision, there should a minimum of 24 days between the date that notification is made and the date of the polls.”If we don’t notify it by Thursday, we won’t be able meet the deadline,” a senior official at the SEC stated.
The polls will not be conducted by the Commission this year.
“If we are unable to conduct the polls by December 19, we won’t be able announce the results by December 22.After that, there are Christmas and New Year celebrations.The official stated that the elections would be delayed until next year in such a case.
However, some sources within the Commission said that the notification could be issued on Thursday, despite the fact that the matter remains subjudice.
Official: “As the court did not say anything about notification of polls, there’s no embargo.”
The State Election Commissioner will make the final decision.
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