The campaign for elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) concluded on Friday with leaders giving last-minute push for their parties and contesting candidates. The polling is scheduled for December 19 across 4,939 booths in the city.
Elections to the 144 wards of the KMC will be held without deployment of central armed police forces after a Division Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Friday rejected BJP’s plea for the same.
The court said, “So far, no instance of violence has been pointed out nor along with the writ petition, any such material has been enclosed which furnishes a ground for deployment of the Central Paramilitary Forces in the forthcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections.”
Meanwhile, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, during a roadshow in south Kolkata, said if any party worker was found indulging in irregularities, he or she would be expelled. He added that the BJP will allege irregularities on the polling day since it is going to lose the polls. The TMC leader claimed that of the 144 wards in KMC, his party will win 135.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari campaigned for their party candidates. Mr. Adhikari asked the party workers to keep party offices open on the polling day and block roads if there are any reports of irregularities or attacks on BJP candidates or agents.
1,139 polling booths identified as sensitive booths
The State Election Commission has made special security arrangements for Sunday’s polls. A total of 1,139 polling booths have been declared sensitive; quick response teams ( QRTs) will be deployed in these areas.
There are about 40.48 lakh voters who are going to exercise their franchise to elect a board for the biggest civic body in West Bengal after six years. Unless the Calcutta High Court directs otherwise, the elections will be held under the supervision of Kolkata police and West Bengal police. Personnel of the Kolkata police have started conducting route marches in parts of the city from Friday evening.
