The Calcutta High Court has cleared a key procedural obstacle to the West Bengal municipal elections by directing the State Election Commission to erase old data from electronic voting machines, allowing preparations for polls across seven municipalities to proceed.
The order, passed by a division bench of Chief Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Om Narayan Rai, requires the commission to immediately remove data stored in EVMs used in previous elections. The direction excludes three specific wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Contai municipality.
The commission told the court during Wednesday’s hearing that it was prepared to conduct the municipal elections in November-December. The bench issued its direction after examining a detailed report on the storage of EVM and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail data.
The court had sought the report earlier in the week and asked whether polling data collected from the machines could be stored separately on hard disks, and whether such an arrangement would be legally permissible. The order followed consideration of the commission’s report.
The first phase of the proposed municipal polls will cover Kolkata, Howrah, Bally, Haldia, Dhupguri, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Elections across these civic bodies will involve 6,301 polling booths, while administrative preparations are already under way.
The State Election Commission currently has 21,184 ballot units and 19,564 control units. The availability and preparation of these machines had become a central issue in planning the forthcoming elections. The court’s direction addresses the requirement to clear old election data while retaining separate arrangements for the specified wards and municipality.
The elections will also determine whether several civic bodies move back to elected administration after extended periods under appointed administrators. At least 15 municipalities across 12 districts are currently functioning without elected civic boards, with administrators overseeing municipal services.
Howrah presents the longest-standing case among the municipalities named in the report. Its last municipal election was held in 2013, and the elected board’s tenure ended in 2018. The Howrah Municipal Corporation has since continued without an elected board.
The absence of elected civic boards affects the institutional structure through which municipal services are administered, including local decision-making and accountability. The pending polls therefore extend beyond the question of election scheduling to the restoration of elected representation in urban local bodies.
The State Election Commission has stepped up preparations following the court proceedings. The next stated milestone is the proposed November-December polling window for the seven municipalities, subject to the commission’s continuing administrative arrangements.
