BIMAL BHATTACHARYA Vs. THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition a direction has been sought to the respondents to cancel/modify/amend the notification dated 28th of December, 2021 whereby the dates of election of four Municipal Corporations, namely Siliguri Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Asansol Municipal Corporation have been notified as 22nd of January, 2022.

(2.) The applicant has sought postponement of the dates of the elections of above Municipal Corporations on the plea that the State of West Bengal has been hit with the 3rd wave of COVID 19 Pandemic and that on December 27, 2021 there were only 439 COVID 19 positive cases which have leapfrogged to 6153 cases on January 2nd, 2022. The positivity rate at the time of filing of the petition on 1/1/2022 was 15.93. Considering the current pandemic situation in the State, an apprehension has been expressed that life of the residents of the State will be put to threat if the elections are held wherein large gatherings and mass procession is imminent. A plea has been raised that in these Municipal Corporations administrators have already been appointed, therefore, deferment of the elections for short period can be done and that the experience during the recent Kolkata Municipal Elections was not good since the cases of COVID infected persons have risen thereafter.

(3.) On the direction of this Court dtd. 11/1/2022 the State has filed the communication dated 13th of January, 2022 sent by the Additional Secretary to the Government Pleader about COVID situation and the State Election Commission has also filed the affidavit dtd. 13/1/2022 disclosing the measures which will be taken for holding the elections in spite of spread of COVID virus.