108 municipal bodies in Bengal to go to polls on Feb 27: SEC

The poll panel’s notification, however, did not mention the date of vote counting. Officials said that the date is likely to be declared in a day or two.

“As per the directions of the Calcutta High Court, there are 108 municipal bodies in Bengal to go to polls on Feb 27: SEC  some “difficulties” in Ward 29 of South Dum Dum so except that, polls in all other municipal corporations will be conducted on February 27,” they said.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on February 10. The last date of withdrawal of nomination is February 12. “Nominations can be filed from February 3-9 between 11 am and 3 pm except on Sundays and holidays,” said an SEC official.

The municipalities going to polls fall in 20 districts — Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, Purba Bardhaman and Birbhum.

As per sources, the commission is likely to allow indoor meetings with 200 people and open air meetings with 500 people for campaigning by candidates. No campaigning will be allowed 72 hours before the day of polling.

The SEC will be releasing details about how the polls will be conducted in accordance with the Covid-19 protocols soon.

The Calcutta High Court had previously asked the SEC to postpone the civic polls, which were scheduled for January 22, by 4-6 weeks. Following the order, the commission rescheduled the polls to February 12 while citing the third wave of Covid-19 as the key reason behind the move. Later, the SEC had further extended the poll dates to February 27.