'State mulls to hold elections in various civic bodies, including Kalimpong and Kurseong with Panchayat polls'

The term of a number of municipalities namely — Dhupguri, Panskura, Haldia, Buniyadpur, Durgapur, Nalhati, Coopers Camp, Kalimpong, Raiganj, Domkal, Pujali and Kurseong have already ended. 

MP | 7 Nov 2022 | Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said on Sunday that the state is planning to hold the polls in a number of civic bodies, including Bally during the same time as the Panchayat polls that is slated to be held next year. 

According to sources in the department, the state government has already communicated to the state Election Commission that they want to hold the Panchayat polls before February next year. However, nothing has been made official regarding the time for holding of the Panchayat polls. With Hakim's statement it is clear that the state government wants to hold the civic bodies' polls that are due in the same time as the Panchayat polls. 

"The work flow gets jeopardised if elections are held through out the year. Projects get unnecessarily delayed. So, we want that the pending municipalities' polls to be held along with the panchayat elections," Hakim said. 

The term of a number of municipalities namely — Dhupguri, Panskura, Haldia, Buniyadpur, Durgapur, Nalhati, Coopers Camp, Kalimpong, Raiganj, Domkal, Pujali and Kurseong have already ended. 

The polls of Howrah Municipal Corporation and Bally Municipality are also due and the state wants to hold elections of all these civic bodies in side by side as Panchayat elections. There are still some complexities regarding elections in Howrah and Bally but the state government has already done the delimitation exercise. 

An all-party meeting has already been held by the state Election Commission. The political parties have also started outreach programme at different parts of the state as part of preparations for the Panchayat polls. Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of Trinamool Congress has directed party leadership to highlight the beneficial schemes of the state government while interacting with the people. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/state-mulls-to-hold-elections-in-various-civic-bodies-including-bally-with-panchayat-polls-498319