Mamata, SEC lock horns again over municipal polls

 Following disagreements on Panchayat polls, the Mamata Banerjee administration in West Bengal is once again finding itself at loggerheads with the State Election Commission (SEC) over the scheduling of elections to 12 municipalities in the state.

The SEC has rejected the government’s proposal to hold the elections on September 7, contending that organising another state-wide elections will take more time than a month, since the process of installing the Panchayat bodies cannot be completed by then.
The SEC has instead proposed September 22 as the possible date for the municipal polls.
Both the parties are contesting the issue in the court, though the state government is unable to provide a satisfactory answer to the court as to why the elections should be held on September 7.

Advocate General (AG) Bimal Chatterjee struggled to offer an answer within the stipulated one hour, when the division bench comprising chief justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked why the government cannot hold the elections at a later date.

The municipalities are reaching the end of their terms and fresh bodies needed to be elected for them to resume administrational functions from end of October.

The chief justice’s division bench has taken the onus on itself to break the deadlock over poll dates, observing that the Trinamool Congress government would unlikely to cooperate in solving the matter. It is expected to pronounce its judgment on the matter on Friday.  On Tuesday the AG argued before the bench for the elections to be held on September 7, while the SEC’s legal council pointed out that none of the sub-divisional officers (SDO) would be ready to assume municipal poll duties before September end, since they would be busy with the formation of panchayat bodies.  The commission said it would be unfeasible to advance the dates by a fortnight, while it could bring the date forward by a couple of days.

According to the AG, polls must be held before September 15 as the Viswakarma Puja, which marks the beginning of Durga Puja, is scheduled for September 17, maintaining that organising security for the polls during the festival period will be a challenge.