Kolkata, Oct 10 (IANS) The West Bengal unit of Congress on Saturday announced that it will invite applications from party workers and local leaders aspiring to contest the forthcoming urban civic body elections in West Bengal. The party said it is doing so to make its candidate-selection process more democratic.
The election for urban civic bodies in West Bengal, including that of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and adjacent Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC), is expected to be held in the last week of November, and the results will be announced in the first week of December.
Speaking to media persons on Saturday afternoon, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) President Suvankar Sarkar said that those party workers and local leaders interested in contesting the urban civic body polls, especially for the KMC and the HMC, will have to submit their applications to the state Congress leadership between October 11 and October 16.
“They can directly come to the state Congress headquarters of Bidhan Bhaban in Kolkata and submit their applications physically. Else, they can also submit their application online through email. The state leadership will vet each application and prepare the final list of candidates,” Sarkar said.
Meanwhile, a WBPCC leader said that this initiative is intended to strengthen the party’s organizational structure in the respective areas by encouraging local-level party workers, especially young faces, to participate in the electoral process.
Speaking to the media, Sarkar also launched a scathing attack against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allegedly not taking any action on a single complaint over the electoral malpractices in the recently concluded bypolls for Nandigram Assembly Constituency in East Midnapore district and Rejinagar Assembly Constituencies in Murshidabad district in West Bengal.
“The winning margin of the BJP candidates both in Nandigram and Rejinagar had proved that such massive margins would not have been possible had there been free and fair polls. We had constantly flagged complaints about electoral malpractices since the beginning. But the ECI had not addressed a single complaint,” Sarkar said.
–IANS
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