West Bengal: EC reschedules 4 civic body polls to Feb 12 amid rising COVID cases

In view of rising novel coronavirus cases, the West Bengal Election Commission has postponed elections to four municipal corporations by three weeks to February 12. According to a notification issued by State's EC, polls to Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Asansol Municipal Corporation and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation would take place on February 12 instead of January 22. The polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm, SEC said. Earlier on Saturday, the West Bengal government sent a letter to the SEC, giving its consent to shelve the elections, owing to the pandemic situation. 

The Calcutta High Court had also asked SEC to explore the possibility of rescheduling the civic body polls by four to six weeks in view of a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

West Bengal on Friday reported 22,645 fresh COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths, the state health department said. The positivity rate stands at 31.14%. The maximum cases have been reported in Kolkata (6,867), followed by North 24 Parganas (4,018).

TMC wins 134 of 144 wards in Kolkata civic polls

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept Kolkata Municipal polls last month by winning 134 of the 144 wards. The Bharatiya Janata Party won three seats while Congress and the Left Front managed to win two each. The remaining three seats were won by independent candidates.

West Bengal CM Banerjee thanked the people of the capital city for choosing TMC. The Trinamool got a vote share of 92.36%, while BJP's vote share was around 2%. The Congres and Left secured 1.39% each. 

"Heartiest congratulations to all candidates for your victory in the KMC elections. Remember to serve people with utmost diligence and gratitude! I wholeheartedly thank every single resident of KMC for putting their faith in us, once again," Banerjee had tweeted.

Image: PTI