Bengal BJP to contest municipal elections without mayoral candidates

Despite its tall claims of dislodging the Trinamool Congress (TMC) from power in West Bengal in the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP has been unable to find its mayoral candidate for more than 100 municipalities, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the upcoming Municipal elections.

The civic polls which will cover about 60% of the state are being considered as the “semi final” to the 2021 Assembly elections. The elections to 109 municipalities, including KMC, are expected to be held in April. The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and the Asansol Municipal Corporation will likely go to polls in June.

BJP sources revealed that the decision was taken at a party meeting in Delhi attended by the party’s national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh along with several other senior state party leaders.

“We are not in power in West Bengal either at the state government or at KMC. So we will not declare any mayoral candidate for KMC,” said Ghosh. BJP sources further revealed that the party is also not keen on declaring mayoral candidates for the rest of the municipalities.

The development comes barely nine months after the saffron party won 18 seats in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections, achieving its highest tally in the state.

According to state BJP sources, the condition of party organisation is not up to the mark in Kolkata. This became evident in the fact that saffron party’s rallies in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Kolkata have so far paled in comparison to the massive anti-CAA rallies taken out by the TMC.

BJP sources said that, faced with such a situation, that party wanted former Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee to become the party’s face in the KMC elections. But Chatterjee, who joined the BJP from the TMC, had so far not given any positive response in this regard. The BJP is trying to rope in celebrities and eminent personalities to contest on its tickets in few wards of the KMC.

However, state BJP chief argued that unless his party is in power at the state or a municipality, it is not BJP’s tradition to declare chief ministerial or mayoral candidates.