Bengal guv meets SEC, discusses issues related to pending municipal polls

West Bengal State Election Commissioner Saurav Das called on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday. They discussed issues related to pending municipal polls in the state.

Kolkata: West Bengal State Election Commissioner Saurav Das called on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday and discussed issues related to pending municipal polls in the state, amid allegations of rigging and intimidation against the ruling TMC by opposition camps during the just-concluded KMC elections.

A tussle had recently erupted between the SEC, the state government and the governor over the issue of central force deployment for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections.

The SEC had opted for state police force deployment for the Kolkata elections, despite opposition parties expressing apprehensions of violence and intimidation by TMC supporters.

"WB State Election Commissioner Shri Saurav Das called on Governor West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar today at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata. Issues relatable to Municipal Elections @MamataOfficial were traversed," Dhankhar tweeted following the meeting.

Elections to 111 municipal bodies are due in West Bengal.

The SEC and the state government have told the Calcutta High Court that it plans to conduct elections to five municipal corporations -- Howrah, Asansol, Bidhannagar, Chandannagar and Siliguri -- on January 22 and the remaining civic bodies on February 27.

State Advocate General S N Mookherjee told the Chief Justice on Friday that the governor has given his assent to a bill for excluding areas of erstwhile Bally municipality from Howrah Municipal Corporation, paving the way for holding separate elections to the two bodies.

Dhankhar had earlier sent the bill back to the state government for reconsideration.

PTI