Calcutta High Court clears EVM hurdle for 7 municipal polls
Kolkata, Oct 14 (UNI) The Calcutta High Court has directed the State Election Commission to immediately erase old data stored in electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in previous elections, except three specific wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Contai municipality, clearing a major legal hurdle in holding municipal polls across West Bengal.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the commission informed the court that it was prepared to hold the municipal elections in November-December. The division bench of Chief Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice Om Narayan Rai then directed the commission to erase the old data stored in the machines to address the issue concerning their availability for the forthcoming polls.
The order came after the court sought a detailed report from the commission on Monday regarding the storage of EVM and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) data. The bench had asked whether polling data collected from the machines could be stored separately on hard disks and whether such an arrangement was legally permissible. The court passed its order after considering the report. The commission is preparing to conduct elections in seven municipalities in the first phase - Kolkata, Howrah, Bally, Haldia, Dhupguri, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Polling will be held at a total of 6,301 booths across these civic bodies, and administrative preparations have already begun.
The State Election Commission currently has 21,184 ballot units and 19,564 control units. At least 15 municipalities across 12 districts of the state are presently functioning without elected civic boards, with administrators overseeing municipal services. Howrah presents a particularly unusual case, having gone without a municipal election for 13 years. The last election to the Howrah Municipal Corporation was held in 2013. Its elected board's tenure ended in 2018, after which the civic body has continued to function without an elected board.
Following the formation of the new state government, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had stressed the need to hold the pending municipal elections at the earliest. The commission has since stepped up preparations to conduct the polls.
UNI SAG RSA
