Amid rising Covid-19 cases in the state, the West Bengal Election Commission on Saturday postponed elections for four civic bodies for three weeks, although the Mamata Banerjee government had earlier eased some government-imposed restrictions.

According to a notice from the polling panel, the votes for the four agencies will be held on February 12 instead of January 22. However, the committee has not announced when the votes will be counted. A senior polling panel official said the count could take place on February 15.

The Kolkata High Court on Friday told the State Election Commission (SEC) to consider postponing the civic elections by four to six weeks. The judges of the chamber, led by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, also told the committee to make a decision within 48 hours.

“We welcome the decision of the (state) Election Commission. The Calcutta High Court has directed the panel to consider postponing the vote. The state government informed the Commission that it has no objection if the vote is postponed due to public safety concerns. The polling panel has postponed it. We will abide by this decision,” said TMC MP Saugata Roy. Elections for the Calcutta Municipal Corporation were held on December 19. The State Election Commission had earlier planned to conduct a poll of four civic bodies, Asansol, Bidhannagar, Siliguri and Chandannagar on Jan. 22, with vote counting scheduled for Jan. 25.

But with the alarming rise in Covid-19 cases, a petition was filed in the High Court seeking directions from the state board of elections to delay voting.

“We have called on the committee to postpone the vote because of the alarming rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state. Under these circumstances, free and fair elections cannot be held because people will be afraid to go to the polling place. Many other (parties) have since responded. Calcutta High Court instructed the polling panel to postpone the election for four to six weeks. It was postponed for three weeks. We thank the committee,” said BJP state department chairman Sukanta Majumdar.

Bangladesh has 1,45,483 active Covid cases, according to figures from the union health ministry on Saturday.

On Thursday, the state government told the court it had no role once the election date was announced and only the polling panel could push it back. The polling panel, on the other hand, informed the court that the commission does not have the power to postpone the election date beyond the notification date unless the state government declares such a disaster or emergency, making it impossible to hold such an election. election.

“This could have been announced in advance. But instead, the state government and the polling panel pushed the ball into each other’s courts. Now the High Court has ordered them to have no choice,” said Lok Sabha Congress leader Adil Ranjan Joo Durie said.

Complete News Source : Hindustan Times