News Analysis India

Tag: Kolkata civic polls

  • Mamata’s TMC registers landslide victory in Kolkata civic polls

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday registered a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Elections bagging 134 out of 144 wards and the BJP, which had emerged as the main opposition party in the recent Assembly elections, won three seats. The Left Front and Congress won two each. 

    The Independent candidates bagged victory in three wards.

    Though the LF failed to retain the second position that it had secured in the 2015 civic polls, the party’s vote share was higher than the BJP. It was also in the second position in 65 seats while the saffron camp was in 47 wards. The Congress was ahead of the LF and the BJP in 16 seats.

    “The election was a mass festival and it’s a victory of the people. Several national parties including the BJP, Congress and CPI(M) also fought against us but they were all defeated. This victory will show the way in national politics in the coming days. A meeting has been convened in Maharashtra Niwas in Kolkata on December 23 with the elected councillors. The process of selecting the mayor for the civic body will be initiated after the meeting,” said TMC supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.  

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    Establishing record dominance, the TMC secured 72% vote share when the LF bagged 12% and the BJP 9% respectively. The Congress got 4% vote share.

    In the 2015 civic polls, the TMC had bagged 113 wards, the LF 15 seats and the BJP 7 seats.   

    Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari criticised the role of the state election commission. “Congratulations to @CEOWestBengal Sourav Das for making Royal Nephew of Bengal’s prediction come true. Important Steps taken by you such as EVM without VVPAT, CCTV without connection and last but not the least; allowing an atmosphere of fear to prevail with @KolkataPolice’s help,” he tweeted.

    Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said had the election been free and fair, his party would have won in at least 12 wards.

    Echoing the same, CPI(M)’S Sujan Chakraborty said had the electorates were allowed to exercise their franchise freely, the break-up of the result would have been different.

  • Calcutta HC rejects BJP’s plea to stay Kolkata civic polls

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) election due on December 19, while directing the state poll panel and the West Bengal government to take measures for holding elections in other civic bodies at the earliest with the least possible number of phases.

    The State Election Commission (SEC) and the state government had earlier told the court that elections to 111 municipal bodies will be held in six to eight phases by May 2022, but dates can be fixed later, taking into account the spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19, and considering the school board examinations.

    A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj in its order refused to stay the KMC elections as prayed for by the BJP.

    The BJP and another petitioner had moved the high court seeking direction to the SEC and the state government to hold elections to all the municipalities and municipal corporations where it is due together and as soon as possible.

    Claiming that the SEC and the state government had announced the schedule for the KMC elections during the pendency of its petition, the BJP had prayed for a stay on the polls for the city’s civic body, which is to be held on December 19.

    The bench directed the SEC and the state government to take measures for holding elections to the other 111 municipal bodies at the earliest in minimum possible phases.

    It directed the SEC and the state government to inform the court on a tentative plan for holding these elections on the next date of hearing on December 23.

  • No ‘outsider’ campaigners for BJP candidates in Kolkata civic polls

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA:  Facing discontent over the roping in of Union ministers and leaders from other states in the Kolkata municipal corporation, the BJP high-command took a U-turn and decided to withdraw such campaigners. 

    Political observers attribute the BJP’s U-turn to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s aggressive pitch of branding the saffron camp as a party of ‘‘outsiders’’ in the run up to the Bengal polls. Discontent in the state unit spread after the party brass rope in Union ministers and star leaders, including Smriti Irani, Manoj Tiwari and Giriraj Singh, as star campaigners for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election.

    ‘‘We opposed the decision because visit of such leaders did not secure any electoral dividend in the recent Assembly polls. Instead, it handed over a political tool to Mamata to attack us. She relentlessly continued branding our party as an outfit of outsiders which resulted consolidation of Bengali electorates against us to some extent,’’ said a BJP leader.

    The BJP leadership has decided to engage party functionaries and prominent faces of Bengal to participate in the campaigns. ‘‘ This is the lowest rung of elections in the existing electoral exercise. The faces of local party functionaries should be roped in. Because, they know the political issues, which may give us dividend, like the back of their hand, not the leaders from Bihar, UP or Bihar,’’ said the leader.  For the Bengal poll, the BJP had fielded heavyweights Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, and Yogi Adityanath but it did not help the party.

  • Kolkata civic polls: Congress names 66 candidates in first list, to go it alone in most wards

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Congress on Saturday announced names of poll candidates for 66 of the total 144 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), and made it clear that the party will go it alone in the December 19 election in most of the wards.

    This is the first list of contestants while the party will extend support to independent candidates in 22-25 seats to ensure the defeat of the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, Congress state committee member Nepal Mahato told reporters.

    To a question, he said, “The Left Front already announced candidates in several seats where our party is strong. So we have decided to go ahead with this list.”

    The Congress and the CPI(M)-headed Left Front had fought the assembly elections held in March-April this year together.

    “But our priority will be to defeat both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP,” Mahato said.

    The Congress has nominated at least two TMC councillors in the last KMC board, who were denied tickets by the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

    The Left Front on Friday released names of 114 nominees, leaving 17 seats for the Congress and the ISF.

    It will announce candidates in 13 wards later.

  • Kolkata, Howrah civic polls on Dec 19; BJP may move HC seeking elections to all municipalities

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday gave its nod to the West Bengal government’s proposal to hold polls to the municipal corporations of Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah on December 19, a senior official said.

    The BJP said it is consulting lawyers to move the Calcutta High Court to seek directions for holding elections at one go to all municipal corporations and municipalities in West Bengal where polls are due.

    Elections to more than 100 civic bodies including municipal corporations of Kolkata and Howrah have been due for a long time, primarily because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

    These civic bodies are being run by administrators appointed by the state government.

    “Polling to the 144 wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and 50 wards of the Howrah Municipal Corporations will be held on December 19,” the SEC official said.

    The notification to this effect is likely to be issued on November 25.

    The Commission is likely to call an all-party meeting on November 20 and another meeting with the administration and police soon after the issuance of the notification, the official added.

    The state government had proposed to the SEC that elections to Kolkata and Howrah municipal corporations be held on December 19.

    A BJP delegation had met the SEC on Monday and demanded that elections to all municipalities and corporations be held together, state party vice-president Pratap Banerjee said.

    “We are planning to move the high court on the issue. We came to the high court today to consult with our lawyers in this regard,” he said.

    The Trinamool Congress accused the BJP of double standards on the issue of holding polls in a single phase.

    “When we were demanding single-phase assembly elections in West Bengal owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the BJP was gleefully supporting 8-phase polls. Assembly elections were held under central forces. Two rounds of by-elections were also conducted after that and the BJP lost miserably in all these,” Ghosh said.

    The SEC official said the last date of filing nomination papers is likely to be December 2. The papers will be scrutinised the next day and the last date of withdrawing the nomination will be December 4.