The West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday gave the dates for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls to be held on December 19. The nodal body issued a notification informing the same.
Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and chief opposition BJP will battle it out for the urban voters' support, merely seven months on from the assembly elections. TMC had won in all of the 16 assembly segments in Kolkata in the last election.
Meanwhile, December 21 is being mooted as the day of counting for the polls in 144 wards of the civic body with a total of 40,48,352 eligible voters, Saurav Das, State Election Commissioner, said.
He further said, "There will be 4,742 polling booths. The filing of nomination starts from today and will continue till December 1. The last date for withdrawal of candidatures is December 4. The polling and election campaign will take place adhering to all COVID protocols".
Discussions were on with the state police chief and the Kolkata Police Commissioner regarding the deployment of forces for the smooth running of elections, Mr. Das added.
Notably, the elections to KMC, along with 112 other municipalities and municipal corporations, were scheduled for April-May 2020 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.