PIL in Calcutta HC seeking deferring of four municipal corporation polls

In a PIL filed by Bimal Bhattacharya on Wednesday in Calcutta High Court, he sought postponement of the four Municipal Corporation polls amidst covid cases rising in the state.

Kolkata:The COVID-19 situation in West Bengal is becoming very critical with every passing day as the positive graph is skyrocketing. In such a situation, a social activist has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Calcutta High Court with the plea for postponing the polls for the four municipal corporations on January 22, 2022.

The PIL filed in the division bench of the Calcutta High Court chief justice, Prakash Srivastava is likely to be heard any day from now. The petitioner Bimal Bhattacharya has pointed out that in a situation when the average daily figure of newly affected people is around 9,000, the situation will worsen if the polls are conducted in the midst of this pandemic. Hence, the petition states, that the polls for the four municipalities should be postponed.

The polls for the four municipal corporations in Siliguri, Bidhan Nagar, Asansol, and Chandernagar will be held on January 22, 2022.

The political parties have been asked to limit the Assembly campaign rallies to 500. The medical fraternity is also of the opinion that polls can further turn into a complete disaster.

Currently, the division bench of the chief justice is hearing a number of cases relating to the municipal corporation polls. One such case is scheduled for hearing on Thursday.

The petition by Bhattacharya is also likely to be heard then.