The Mamata Banerjee government has informed the state election commission that it is ready to hold polls to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation but 45 days are needed to frame the voter list according to the requirement of civic polls after the revised electoral roll is published on January 15, administrative sources said.

“The state government and the SEC would file an affidavit in the Supreme Court to this effect on Wednesday. The government and the SEC would require 45 days as the voter list has to be rearranged because the number of booths in the civic and the Assembly polls would be different,” said a senior state government official.

The revised voter list published by the Election Commission of India on January 15 is for Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The civic polls are conducted by the SEC.

The BJP had recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking polls to the CMC and other civic bodies in the state.

The court asked the SEC to submit an affidavit pointing out when the elections could be held.

If a 45-day window is allowed after the revised voter list is published, the civic polls have to be held in March, which many officials said, would not be possible as dates for the Assembly elections are expected to be announced by then.

“The state government might propose to hold the polls in March next year, but for practical reasons, they are unlikely before June,” said a source.

The officials have explained why elections cannot be held just ahead of the Assembly polls.

“It is possible to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly polls simultaneously as the ECI holds them and can place two EVMs in each booth which is linked to one control unit,” said an official who monitored local elections several times.

As the civic polls are held by the SEC and the Assembly elections by the ECI, it is not possible to place two separate EVMs in a booth.

Also, the polling officials cannot be asked to control both the EVMs.

“Moreover, it would not be possible for the SEC to arrange the required number of EVMs if the CMC polls are scheduled ahead of the Assembly elections. This is because all voting machines would be kept ready for Assembly polls during that period,” said an officer.

The elections to the CMC had been deferred because of the Covid-19 pandemic and Firhad Hakim was appointed as the chairman of the board of administrators.

“The state will present the ground reality. It will then depend on what the court orders,” said a source.

Although science and technology minister Bratya Basu said the Trinamul Congress was ready to face the CMC polls in March, his colleagues said the state government would seek the 45 days very tactically.

“We know civic polls are unlikely to be held in March and that’s why we proposed to hold them just ahead of the Assembly elections. We cannot take the risk of holding CMC elections just ahead of Assembly polls as nobody can guarantee that voting would be held peacefully,” said a minister.

“We cannot take any risk given the bitter experience of 2018 panchayat polls where complaints of muscle flexing were levelled against us and that had hurt us in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.”