Left and Cong to seek polls

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 16: The Darjeeling district CPM has decided to meet the state election commission and the Congress is likely to seek the governor’s intervention to hold polls to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and mahakuma parishad.

CPM leaders said they would meet officials of the state election commission soon.

“We have decided to request them to conduct polls in the SMC and the three-tier elections in Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad so that democratically elected people take control of these bodies, which are being run by administrators now,” CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya said. “The government run by Trinamul is least concerned about running these bodies through a democratic set up.”

The parishad and 22 panchayats and four panchayat samitis that make up the SMP were taken over by administrators in June. In SMC, a board of administrators was formed in August. While the SMP polls are due since June, SMC polls were due in September.

The Congress will meet governor K.N. Tripathi. “We will meet the governor in Calcutta soon as the SMC and the SMP need elected representatives to ensure that people get proper services,” Sankar Malakar, Darjeeling district Congress president, said. “Once the Assembly session ends, we will seek an appointment.”

Minister Gautam Deb said state-appointed administrators were providing better services compared to the CPM and Congress boards. “While people threw the CPM out of SMC, the Congress walked out realising its incompetence.”