Bengal Governor invites Election Commissioner for Municipal elections
Kolkata,25 February (HS): As the state Election Commission in West Bengal is yet to formally announce the dates and the schedule of the Corporation and Municipal elections in the state,expected to be held in April, Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has asked the State Chief Election Commissioner Saurav Das to brief him about the upcoming elections at Raj Bhavan on 27 February.
Believed to be setting off yet another confrontation with the state government on the issue of Municipal elections after the state Cabinet had informed the Commission about its preference to hold the Kolkata and Howrah Municipal Corporation elections on 12 April and the same for 104 other Municipal bodies elsewhere in the state either on 26 April or the next day, as per the usual norm, the Governor in a twitter message here last night said ‘Will seek an update as regards upcoming Municipal Elections from the State Election Commissioner Saurabh Kumar Das on Feb 27.
Though no immediate comment is available from the office of the State Election Commission, the political Pundits here believed that the Governor, also a constitutional expert, might get to know whether there was any lacuna on the part of the government or the Commission in holding the poll in right perspective and in view of BJP’s demand to defer the first phase of elections( to KMC and Howrah Municipal Corporations) from 12 April to at least 24 April to get enough time for electioneering for the candidates before the poll .