The Darjeeling Municipality

Darjeeling, March 26: The Bengal government has decided to call for a fresh election to the post of the Darjeeling Municipality chairman, paving the way for the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to seize power in the civic body.

In a letter addressed to Darjeeling district magistrate Rajesh Pandey, the joint secretary of the state municipal affairs department, K.C. Mondol, has raised doubts about the manner in which the election to the post of the chairman was held on February 16.

Although the GNLF won that election, a number of its councillors have since joined the Morcha and others have quit the party.

The letter said according to a report submitted by Pandey on February 18, the government-appointed observer and some councillors had not been able to attend the election. The letter also mentioned that “a majority of the councillors” was now demanding “fresh elections”.

“Under the circumstances, it is difficult to judge as to whether the meeting held on 16-02-08 was held in a free and fair manner. Keeping in view the available facts, it has been decided that steps should be taken for holding of meeting of Board of Councillors of Darjeeling Municipality afresh in order to elect the chairman of the municipality,” the letter reads.

“We are looking to hold the meeting on April 2 or 3,” said Pandey. A notice for the meeting has to be sent to all councillors three days before the scheduled date.

The decision will hurt the GNLF, which has been all but wiped out of the municipality since the election, which was necessitated by the death of the incumbent chairman, B.B. Dewan.

On February 16, the GNLF had 15 councillors against 13 from the Morcha. The GNLF councillors had sneaked into the municipality late at night and allegedly locked the doors from inside so that the election could be held despite a Morcha agitation outside. However, neither the election observer, nor the Morcha councillors attended the meeting.

Since then, three GNLF councillors, Nirmala Ghaley, Babar Gazmer and Ramesh Chhetri, have switched allegiance to the Morcha. The 12 other GNLF councillors have resigned from the party, but not joined any political outfit.