Kolkata, Nov 6 (IANS) Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Justice Arjun Roy, on Friday, had ordered an interim stay on the issue of notification by the West Bengal Election Commission (WBSEC) announcing the date for elections for formation of the new Board of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
The main petition challenging the recently completed delimitation of the wards in KMC, increasing the number of wards from 144 to 209, is pending at the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
On Friday, the Division Bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Justice Arjun Roy ruled that the notification announcing the dates for KMC polls would not be issued unless the matter is settled at the single-judge Bench of Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
The Division Bench clearly ruled that the single-judge Bench would decide whether the delimitation was proper or not, and only after that the notification announcing the polling dates would be issued.
Polling for seven urban civic bodies in West Bengal, including KMC and Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), was supposed to take place in the last week of December, and results were expected to be announced in the first week of January next year.
Before that, the delimitation of the wards in KMC had been announced, increasing the number of wards to 209 from 144.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the delimitation process.
In the petition filed by CPI(M) leader and former party Councillor Dipu Das, she claimed that despite some serious objections to the new ward delimitation being raised and a proposal mooted for a ‘spot visit’ and a public hearing in the area to get the opinions of the citizens, no importance was given to those objections and proposals.
The petitioner also claimed that several aspects, including the population and geographical location of the wards, were not properly considered in the delimitation exercise.
She even claimed that this move was made to give benefits to a specific party.
Initially, the matter was heard at the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
However, instead of passing any specific order in the matter, Justice Bhattacharyya directed all parties concerned to file affidavits in the matter.
Thereafter, the petitioner approached the Division Bench of Justice Bhattacharyya and Justice Roy, challenging the order of the single-judge Bench.
The petitioner contended that if the WBSEC were to announce the schedule of the KMC before a clear judgment in the matter, her petition would not have any relevance.
Now, with the Division Bench putting an interim stay on the issue of notification, it has become uncertain on when the KMC polls will be conducted.
Reacting to the Division Bench order, BJP’s Lok Sabha member and the Union Minister of State, Sukanta Majumdar, who is the party’s in-charge for the KMC poll preparation, told media persons that while he had nothing to comment on the court’s ruling, he felt that the common people would suffer if the polls are delayed for an indefinite period.
“So, in the interest of the common people, the matter must be resolved at the earliest,” Majumdar added.
–IANS
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