Kolkata civic polls could be delayed if the State Election Commission accepts a demand from opposition leaders to wait until voter-roll revision and pending appeals are completed. The request covers elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) and other municipal bodies in West Bengal.
In a letter to the state election commissioner, Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar, Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy, former CPM MP Samik Lahami and former Rajya Sabha MP and retired IAS officer Jawhar Sircar, along with civil rights workers, urged the commission to defer the elections. They cited the need to complete the special summary revision (SSR) and re-enrol eligible voters who were left out during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
The letter said elections should be held only after the conclusion of the “special re-enrolment drive and SSR”, citing what it described as the large number of eligible electors deleted from the electoral roll under the SIR. The signatories also asked the commission to include voters whose appeals remain pending before SIR appellate tribunals.
The draft electoral roll under the SSR is scheduled to be published on November 12, while the final roll is due on January 4. The revision will also accept advance applications from eligible voters for qualifying dates in April, July and October 2027, according to the report.
The demand places the timing of the municipal elections alongside the administration of electoral-roll corrections. Municipal elections determine the elected leadership of the corporations responsible for core urban functions, including local civic administration and public services. The immediate dispute, however, is over whether the electoral process should proceed before the roll-revision and appeal mechanisms are completed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the decision on poll timing rested with the State Election Commission. BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari said his party wanted every eligible voter to be able to vote, while also stating that it would win whether the elections were held in November or after January 4.
A separate issue has emerged around the distribution of draft electoral rolls to the Trinamool Congress. The South 24 Parganas district administration invited the party to collect hard copies of the draft rolls for the KMC elections by sending the letter to the address registered under the party’s name. State government sources said they had not received formal communication from the State Election Commission regarding the two TMC factions. The administration therefore issued the invitation under the party name previously registered in its records.
The State Election Commission’s decision on the election schedule, and the progress of the SSR and pending SIR appeals, will determine whether the municipal polls proceed before or after the final electoral roll is published.
