Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], February 13 (ANI): The Bengal BJP on Sunday demanded the cancellation of civic elections in Asansol and Bidhannagar and asked for fresh polling, alleging widespread rigging.

Kolkata Jan 21 PTI Calling the TMC and BJP two sides of one coin the CPIM on Friday said the Mamata Banerjee-led party cannot be trusted as her role in the battle against the saffron camp was never above suspicion Downplaying TMCs efforts to cobble up a united front CPIM state general secretary Suryakanta Mishra also said Bengals ruling party was as much fascist and undemocratic as the BJP TMC leaders have claimed that Banerjee had recently reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for an alliance in poll-bound Goa but her effort apparently failed to evoke much response from the grand old party Mishra hitting out at the TMC said It is up to Sonia ji to decide what will be her response As far as we are concerned Mamata Banerjee cannot be trusted Her role in the battle against the BJP has never been above suspicion Asked about the strategy of the CPIM for the upcoming municipal polls Mishra said Our policy remains the same unity of all Left secular and democratic forces to fight the BJP and the TMC The partys state conference will be held from March 15-17 to further fine-tune our strategy He however did not clarify if his party would be forming an alliance with the Congress for the civic elections Mishra insisted that the CPIM believed that the battle cannot be solely centred on elections but we should remain on the field throughout the year serve people during crisis Leaders of the TMC and the BJP switch sides easily as there isnt much difference in the politics that they practice A former TMC mayor who had crossed over to the BJP is back in the states ruling party He is a candidate of the TMC for Bidhannagar polls It is now difficult to ascertain loyalties of such leaders he stated PTI SUS RMS RMS

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], December 31 (ANI): The All India Trinamool Congress on Thursday announced its list of candidates for the corporation elections in Bidhannagar, Chandannagar, Asansol and Siliguri, which are slated to be held on January 22, 2022.

Kolkata Dec 27 PTI The West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday announced that polls to four municipal corporations -- Siliguri Chandannagar Bidhannagar Asansol -- will be held on January 22 The commission left out Howrah Municipal Corporation amid the ongoing row between the Mamata Banerjee government and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over a bill seeking its bifurcation Making the announcement at his office here State Election Commissioner Saurav Das said that nomination filing for the January 22 polls will commence on December 28 The last date for submitting nomination is January 3 The papers will be scrutinised the day after January 6 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawing the nominations Das told reporters Of the four Asansol is the largest municipal corporation with 106 seats followed by Siliguri with 47 Chandannagar with 33 and Bidhannagar with 41 wards he said Repoll if any will be conducted on January 24 the SEC said Counting of votes will be held on January 25 2022 The commission has adopted electoral rolls updated up to November 1 2021 Das said He also said that model code of conduct will be applicable in the poll-bound areas from Monday The governor on Sunday said that he had on November 24 sent back the bifurcation bill -- which seeks to carve out Bally Municipality out of Howrah Municipal Corporation -- to the state government with a number of queries for which clarifications have not been provided thus far The SEC and the West Bengal government had earlier told the Calcutta High Court that plans were afoot to hold elections to five municipal corporations in the state on January 22 and the remaining civic bodies where polls are due on February 27 Elections to Kolkata Municipal Corporation were held on December 19 PTI AMR RMS RMS