The Calcutta High Court has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal State Election Commission on the shortage of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines ahead of municipal elections in seven municipalities, including Kolkata and Howrah.
A division bench led by Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge directed the commission to file a specific affidavit clarifying whether polling data collected from EVMs and VVPAT machines can be stored separately on hard disks, and whether such a procedure is legally permissible. The direction comes as election preparations advance for civic polls expected towards the end of the year.
According to the report, the State Election Commission currently has 21,184 ballot units and 19,564 control units. The shortage of voting equipment has emerged as a key administrative challenge, with 6,301 polling booths expected to be established across the seven municipalities covered in the first phase.
The municipalities expected to be included are Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation, Bally, Haldia, Dhupguri, Kalimpong and Kurseong. The commission may issue the formal election notification in the last week of October, according to sources cited in the report. Polling is tentatively planned for the last week of November, with results likely to be announced in early December.
The court’s intervention places the equipment question alongside the wider administrative preparation for elections that will determine the next elected civic bodies in these urban areas. The commission’s affidavit is expected to address both the availability of machines and the legal status of any proposed method for storing polling data separately on hard disks.
The elections also carry significance for municipalities that have been functioning without elected civic boards. At least 15 municipalities across 12 districts of West Bengal do not currently have elected boards and are being administered by officials. Howrah Municipal Corporation has faced the longest delay among the municipalities listed in the report: its last election was held in 2013, and the elected board’s tenure ended in 2018.
The municipal polls will therefore determine representative leadership for civic bodies responsible for urban services and local administration. The immediate operational question before the State Election Commission is whether its available equipment and proposed data-handling arrangements can meet the requirements of the planned poll. The commission’s detailed affidavit to the Calcutta High Court is the next formal step in the process.
