In another setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta high court rejected its proposed date for civic polls and accepted the date suggested by the state election commission.
Just as the Supreme Court had fixed the dates for the just concluded panchayat polls, a division bench of the high court of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi finalied the date ( September 21 ) for polls to 12 municipalities and November 22 for the poll to Midnapore municipality. Polls to three municipalities Krishnanagar, Berhampore, Jhargram and Howrah municipal corporation will also be held on November 22.
The state government had first suggested September 7 and then September 11 as the probable date while the state election commission had made it clear that it could not conduct the polls before September 22 or 21. The court accepted the submission of the state election commission. This was the second major jolt to the state government after it suffered the profound humiliation in the Supreme Court over the phases and dates of the panchayat polls. The state government was asked to issue the notification for the poll to 12 municipalities on August 16.
The delimitation in Midnapore has not been completed, therefore the election here will be held in November. The stalemate occurred because the state government did not show any inclination for the polls.