WB municipal polls: HC seeks State EC's affidavit within 48 hours on COVID containment zones

Ahead of the West Bengal municipal polls, Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the State Election Commission to submit an affidavit within 48 hours to inform it about the number of containment zones in poll-bound areas and the number of officials to be deployed on the poll duty.

The Court was hearing the matter of whether municipal polls should be held in the prevailing COVID situation. The next hearing will be on January 13.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Election Commission on Friday modified the guidelines for municipal corporation election campaigning in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.

The new guidelines say that only 250 people would be allowed in outdoor meetings. Earlier it was 500. Apart from that, the Commission also asked the political parties to encourage digital campaigns instead of rallies and meetings to combat the COVID-19 situation in the state.

There are seven municipal corporations in West Bengal namely Asansol Municipal Corporation, Bidhan Nagar Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, Durgapur Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

Officials, on the condition of anonymity, said, "The State Election Commission had informed Calcutta High Court that it is ready to hold the polls in remaining municipal corporations. The proposed dates for the next phase is on January 22 in Asansol, Howrah, Bidhannagar, Siliguri and others. The other phase will be held on February 27 for the remaining municipalities."

In December 2021, voting for 144 wards of Kolkata Municipal polls was held on December 19 and the results were declared on December 21.

( With inputs from ANI )

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