Kolkata Municipal Corporation voting underway, TMC-BJP fight for 144 wards

Kolkata: High-stake battle is underway between BJP and TMC to gain control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the civic polls on Sunday which will decide the fate of 950 candidates.

Polling is underway at 4,959 polling booths in all 144 wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) amid tight security and with COVID-19 protocols. Began at 7 am, voting will continue till 5 pm on Sunday. The counting of votes will take place on 21 December.

Both the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its biggest opponent BJP have fielded their candidates in all 144 seats. When BJP this time is mainly focussed on youth candidates, lawyers and professors, TMC picked up relatives of ministers.

All the attention this time has been drawn by TMC candidate from ward number 73, Bhowanipore Kajari Banerjee, the sister-in-law of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Left and Congress who had fought the Assembly polls jointly have decided to contest the KMC polls independently.

Importantly none of the parties be it TMC, BJP or Congress, has announced the face for the post of Mayor.

The matter of security for conducting the KMC elections reached the door of Calcutta High Court to Apex Court. BJP sought deployment of central forces for the KMC elections citing that they do not have trust in the state police machinery.

However, the court turned down the plea for central forces.

Following the interim order of the Calcutta High Court, KMC elections are being held this time without any central force. The State Election Commission informed that adequate security measures have been put in place. Besides Kolkata and West Bengal police, the state’s armed forces are also deputed for the polling duty.

In the 2015 KMC polls, TMC won 114 wards while the Left bagged 15. BJP managed to win six wards, Congress five and others got three. However, many opposition councilors joined the ruling camp later.

PTI said in a report, for the saffron party, smarting after the defeat in the assembly election in which it emerged a distant second, the challenge will be to keep aside the internal differences and retain its ground among the urban electorate. The internal differences within BJP have been out in the open for the past few months. The civic poll, delayed due to the pandemic, will be an opportunity for the Trinamool Congress to effect a much needed image makeover after the 2018 panchayat election considering that it is trying to expand nationally. The rural poll that year was marked by widespread violence and the makeover will depend on its ensuring a peaceful KMC election.

The TMC leadership has to this end issued a warning to its candidates against any violence and has threatened to expel those found involved in it or not allowing free and fair polls, said PTI.

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