KMC Elections Likely In Last Week Of Nov
Kolkata: The draft electoral roll for KMC elections will be published on Monday, providing citizens with an idea of their ward and booth numbers for the first time after the delimitation exercise, which has pushed up the total number of civic wards from 144 to 209. TOI had reported that the adjudication of SIR appeals in Bengal hit a roadblock with tribunal judges refusing to log into the new portal introduced by ECI on Sept 21 using their Aadhaar credentials. The 13 SIR tribunal judges, hearing appeals against exclusion of names during SIR, have objected to the portal’s inability to accept documents beyond 13 items. “The KMC polls will be held based on electoral rolls of July 1. Ashutosh Chatterjee, general secretary of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, said it was extremely unfortunate that the KMC elections would be held, denying nearly 1 lakh citizens their right to vote. The Congress has written to the Bengal CEO, asking to publish the count of Form 6 filed during the special drive for enrolling voters.
A state official said thousands, whose names were deleted from the voters’ list following SIR ahead of the assembly elections, were unlikely to be able to make it to the voters’ list before the KMC elections either. These names will be added in supplementary rolls,” said an official. “The EC should have made arrangements to decide the cases of appeals pending before tribunals,” he said.
Political parties, too, will get a clearer idea of the revised ward boundaries and the number of voters in each ward. The judges wrote to ECI. But any additions or deletions till the last date of nomination will be reflected in the electoral roll. Voters whose names are added till the last date of nomination will be able to vote.