Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections are being held on Sunday. According to a pre-poll opinion poll, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is on the verge of winning a landslide victory.
Speaking to 14,096 voters in Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, ABP Anand and survey company C-Voter jointly published a survey report. According to the report, Trinamool could win in 130 out of 144 wards of the municipal corporation. BJP can win in 13 wards. The chances of the Left Front winning are one. The fate of the Congress may not be won in any ward.
In the last Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in 2015, Trinamool won in 124 out of 144 wards. On the other hand, BJP won 5 wards, Left Front 13 wards and Congress won 2 wards.
Meanwhile, the state election department has taken extensive security measures around the corporation election. A total of 4,959 booths have been set up in 1,006 buildings selected for voting. Of these, 1,139 booths have been identified as sensitive. Each booth will have CCTV cameras and armed police.
Earlier, the BJP had applied to the Calcutta High Court for the deployment of central forces to conduct the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in a free and fair manner. Following the hearing, a single bench of Justice Rajasekhara Manthar on Thursday said that the state police was enough to hold the municipal elections.
On the other hand, MP Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s all-India general secretary, said at a Trinamool rally in Kolkata’s Barabazar on Thursday, “Our goal is to make the Calcutta Corporation non-violent.”
Later in the day, Abhishek said at an election campaign rally in front of the party office in Kalighat, South Kolkata, “Our goal is to have free and peaceful voting. If anyone violates the rules of voting, the party will expel him. No anarchy will be tolerated in the elections, ”he said, adding that he hoped the Trinamool would win 135 wards in the by-elections.
However, unlike the 2019 Lok Sabha or this year’s Assembly polls, the KMC elections will not be just a two-way contest. In fact, the CPM and Congress, which fought together in the Assembly polls and didn’t win a single seat, may enjoy an edge over the BJP here because of the traditional support for the two parties at the grass-roots level, especially in cities and towns. Despite the major strides it has made in the state where it had no presence till not so long ago, the BJP does not have a strong local face or organisational strength.
950 candidates are contesting in this election. Of these, 402 are women. 36 independent candidates. According to the announcement of the Election Commission, only the election of Kolkata Municipal Corporation will be held on Sunday. Elections for the remaining 118 municipalities will be held on April 30.
