West Bengal BJP has written to the State Election Commission of West Bengal seeking conduct of pending elections of municipalities and corporations in the state on urgent basis.
"We take this opportunity to revisit The West Bengal State Election Commission Act, which states that, The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to the Municipalities shall vest in the Commission. Therefore you are duty bound and obligated towards the people of West Bengal in superintending, direction and conducting elections to all those Municipalities and Corporations where the tenure of the respective Boards has expired," read the letter from the West Bengal BJP on Thursday.
The party in the letter said, there are more than 107 municipalities and corporations where elections are due. In many cases the elections are due for more than a year. In lieu of elected bodies, the local bodies are now run by Administrators appointed by the State Government. Kolkata Municipal Corporation is one of such case.
The letter further read, "Honourable Supreme Court in its order dated 22 September 2020 has sought your opinion on how soon the pending election can be conducted. Earlier the Honourable High Court of Calcutta had also opined that the pending elections should be held as soon as possible."
"There is a travesty in the Act about the responsibility of fixing the date of elections. While the State Government is empowered by the Act to finalize the dates of local body elections, the SEC is obligated to conduct the election and to carry out the responsibility of fulfilling the democratic process. But unless State Government initiates the process, the SEC remains a lame duck," the letter added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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