The Calcutta High Court has allowed the West Bengal State Election Commission to erase stored data from most reserved electronic voting machines, easing an equipment shortage ahead of municipal elections expected in November and December. The permission excludes machines used in three wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and in the Contai municipality election.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Rabindra V. Ghuge and Justice Omnarayan Rai issued the direction after the State Election Commission approached the court over the limited availability of EVMs. The commission told the court that it would be able to conduct the forthcoming municipal elections in November and December if the data-retention restrictions on the machines were relaxed.
Under the order, data can be deleted from reserved EVMs except those connected with the specified Kolkata and Contai municipal elections. The order follows earlier directions that had required election-related data to be preserved from machines used in municipal polls, limiting the number available for fresh elections.
The commission had begun preparations for elections to several urban local bodies after political signals that municipal polls would be held following the formation of the state’s new government. However, the shortage of available EVMs created an administrative hurdle, prompting the commission to seek judicial permission before reusing the machines.
The proposed election schedule has significance for municipalities that are currently being run without elected boards. According to the report, around 15 municipalities across 12 districts do not presently have elected municipal boards and are being administered by appointed administrators. The situation is particularly prolonged in Howrah, where the last municipal corporation election was held in 2013.
Howrah’s elected board completed its term in 2018, and the city has not had a new elected board since then. The reported plan for November and December includes elections to seven municipal corporations and municipalities, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Howrah Municipal Corporation.
The court’s permission addresses the immediate logistical problem faced by the election commission, but the order preserves data associated with the specified past polls. That condition means the commission cannot treat all reserved EVMs as available for deletion and reuse. The machines linked to the three Kolkata wards and the Contai election will remain outside the permission granted by the court.
The next formal step is for the State Election Commission to continue preparations for the municipal elections within the November-December window it presented before the court. The report does not specify the final polling dates, the complete list of urban bodies that will vote or the number of EVMs that can be made available under the order.
