The Bengal government on Saturday tabled the Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Assembly to increase the number of wards in the Howrah Municipal Corporation area.

The move is apparently to pave the way for holding civic elections, pending since 2018. If the wards in Howrah are increased, it largely irons out the confusion in the past decade that transpired when Bally was included in Howrah in 2015 and again excluded recently.

The bill would now be sent to the governor for his assent. Once it becomes an Act after securing the governor’s assent, the government can hold the polls for the civic body anytime. But it is highly unlikely that civic polls would be held before the Assembly polls.

The Bengal government had included Bally municipality in the Howrah Municipal Corporation area in 2015 after polls to the body were held in 2013.

“But the election to the HMC could not be held after 2018 due to several reasons, including Covid-19. When Trinamool came back to power in 2021, it proposed to separate Bally from the HMC again. But the then governor Jagdeep Dhankar did not give assent to the bill to separate Bally from the HMC. The bill was pending for years. Recently, governor C.V. Ananda Bose cleared the bill,” said an official.

“However, as the city has expanded, new wards are needed to give better services to people. This is why the bill to increase the number of wards in Howrah has been tabled,” he added.

A ruling party source said: “People of Howrah are unhappy that polls were not
held in the last seven years, leaving the service delivery system in trouble. This
move gives the people a message that the government is eager to hold civic polls, but due to unavoidable circumstances it could not be conducted.”