Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the State Election Commission to hold polls to 106 civic bodies after finalising the voters’ list but asked it to fix voting date/dates only after consulting the state government so that appropriate measures could be taken for maintaining law and order during the process.
The division bench of Justice I.P. Mukerji and Justice Md Nizamuddin excluded the issue of Calcutta Municipal Corporation polls as it was pending before the Supreme Court.
The high court passed the order on prayers by the Howrah district committee of the CPM and Howrah resident Mausumi Roy.
Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattachayya, who appeared for the CPM, informed the court that the five-year tenure of the Howrah Municipal Corporation had already expired and urged the court to direct the SEC to hold the election immediately.
During the course of the hearing, additional advocate general Abhratosh Majumdar said it would not be possible for the state government to deploy enough force for the civic polls because of the forthcoming Assembly elections.
“Holding two elections at a time is not possible. To maintain law and order during polls, security forces will have to be deployed,” Majumdar told the court.
The SEC’s counsel told the court that the initial process for holding the civic polls had already started.
After hearing the arguments, the court issued the directive to the SEC.