SMP polls on June 26, paper filing from Friday : On May 26 polls to Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad and six civic wards

At least 22 gram panchayats with around 462 seats, four panchayat samitis with 66 seats and one mahakuma parishad with nine seats shall go to the polls in Siliguri

The headquarters of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad. : File picture

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar And Avijit Sinha   |   TT  |  Calcutta/Silliguri   |   27.05.22 : The State Election Commission on Thursday announced that it would hold polls to the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad and six civic wards on June 26, the day fixed by the state government for voting at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Sabha.

Sourav Das, the state election commissioner, said at a news conference in Calcutta that the notifications for the SMP and the civic polls would be issued on May 27.

At least 22 gram panchayats with around 462 seats, four panchayat samitis with 66 seats and one mahakuma parishad with nine seats shall go to the polls in Siliguri. Elections will also be held in ward 8 of Panihati, ward 2 of Jhalda, ward 29 of South Dum Dum, ward 4 of Dum Dum, ward 3 of Bhatpara and ward 17 of Chandernagore.

The respective wards of Panihati and Jhalda became vacant after their newly elected councillors, Anupam Dutta of the Trinamul Congress and Tapan Kandu of the Congress, were shot dead in March.

Das said security during the polls would be overseen by state police. He added that EVMs would be used for the polls.

Over five lakh people in the rural areas of the Siliguri subdivision are eligible to cast their votes for the three-tier panchayat elections of the SMP.

Darjeeling district magistrate S. Ponnambalam said the filing of nominations for the SMP polls would begin on Friday. “The filing of nominations will continue till June 2, followed by a scrutiny of papers on June 4. The last date of withdrawal is June 7. The date of counting would be announced in due course,” said the DM.

He held an all-party meeting in Siliguri ahead of the polls.

The SMP had been formed in 1989 — a year after the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) had been formed. The entire hilly region of the then Darjeeling district, other than the Siliguri subdivision, was brought under the jurisdiction of the DGHC.

This also led to the dissolution of the Darjeeling zilla parishad and hence, the SMP was formed for the rural areas of the Siliguri subdivision. The SMP comprises four blocks — Matigara, Naxalbari, Kharibari and Phansidewa which altogether have 22 panchayats.

“We will use EVMs for the elections. There will be four counting centres, one in each block. Candidates for panchayats and panchayat samitis will file their nominations at BDO offices. Those contesting the SMP seats will file nominations at the SDO office,” said Ponnambalam.

The Trinamul Congress has never ruled the SMP. In 2015, the Left had bagged six seats. The rest of the three seats went to Trinamul.

“A few months ago, we had set a record by winning the Siliguri Municipal Corporation for the first time. We had promised our party supremo that we would also win the SMP,” said Alok Chakraborty, chairman, Darjeeling (plains) district Trinamul.

Siliguri BJp MLA Shankar Ghosh said: “The SMP area is spread over two Assembly constituencies and we had won both the seats last year. The coming election is yet another test for us ahead of the statewide panchayat polls next year.”

In Calcutta, Das said the state government was yet to inform the panel on pending polls to the Howrah and Bally civic bodies.

“The government might be having some problems. We have written to them again,” Das said. “You all know what the problem is.”

A bill to separate the Bally municipality from the Howrah corporation is pending with governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Biman Banerjee, the Speaker of the Assembly, on Thursday criticised Dhankhar for allegedly sitting on the bill.