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Kolkata Municipal Corporation election today, TMC-BJP fight for 144 wards
Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police has heightened vigil across the city and its neighbouring areas, deploying around 23,000 personnel in view of the civic polls.
West Bengal is set to witness another high-stakes electoral battle on Sunday, months after the all-important assembly elections and the subsequent Bhabanipur bypolls earlier this year. Today, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has once again locked horns with the opposing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – all for the control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the civic polls.
The December 19 KMC elections are a crucial test for the BJP, which had to yield to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool at the assembly polls earlier this year and consequently face a series of defections from its ranks to the ruling party.
However, Banerjee's side looks formidable ahead of the KMC polls; not only had the TMC won all 17 Vidhan Sabha seats in Kolkata in the assembly elections, but they also displayed dominance in the city during the Lok Sabha elections less than three years ago. Most pre-poll surveys, too, have pitched the Trinamool Congress as the winning contender in these KMC elections.
Elections to all the 144 wards of the KMC are being held on Sunday, with the voting process commencing at 7am and concluding at 5pm.
The counting of votes will take place on December 21.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata Police has heightened vigil across the city and its neighbouring areas, deploying around 23,000 personnel in view of the civic polls.
Apart from initiating stringent checks at hotels and various entry points from last evening, officers of the force have also been visiting hotels and guest houses in the metropolis to keep a tab on the number of guests who have checked in and those due to arrive in the next two days.
“We want to ensure that the elections are totally peaceful and we have strengthened vigil in Kolkata, Salt Lake, Howrah, and North and South 24 Parganas districts for that purpose,” a senior police official told the PTI news agency. “Areas of focus are Esplanade, New Market, Central Avenue, Gariahat, Ballygunge, Tollygunge, Garia, and Salt Lake.”
Route march and area domination has also started at various key locations of the city, he added.
