Kolkata: The Bengal govt on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta High Court order restraining the state election commission from announcing the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections till a single-judge bench disposes of a petition challenging the rise in the number of wards in the city from 144 to 209 following delimitation. The case is likely to be heard next week.The five-year term of the now-defunct board of KMC, which is run by an administrator, would have ended on Dec 7.The bench of justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Arjun Ray Mukherjee said in its 21-page order, “In the present case, the manner in which the corporation was dissolved mid-term and an administrator appointed and the hasty chronology of events thereafter lends some substance to the appellant’s arguments that there might have been a method in the madness.”CM Suvendu Adhikari had indicated that if the legal hearings contine beyond Nov 30, the state will appoint cordinators for each of the 209 wards.The move came on a day when former Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) mayor-in-council member and CPM functionary Imteaz Ahamad moved Calcutta High Court on Friday, challenging the delimitation of the civic body from 50 to 68 wards. He cited a recent order by the HC vacation bench staying the announcement of Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls based on delimitation until the matter is heard by the court.Ahamad moved a single bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury, arguing that the objective of ensuring better municipal administration in the absence of an elected board had been defeated by “executive adventurism”.A former councillor from ward 20 (old numbering), now ward 26 after delimitation, Ahamad pointed out that wards were carved out based on electoral roll parts rather than population. As a result, ward populations ranged from 2,758 to 41,032, he claimed.He said HMC was dissolved on Dec 7, 2018, and an administrator was appointed the following day. The municipal affairs department initiated a proposal for 68 wards in July 2026.“No recommendation of the corporation, as a body corporate acting through a competent mechanism, preceded that notification, and that it is therefore without authority of law and liable to be quashed,” the petition stated.Ahamad also questioned the administrator’s authority to propose delimitation in the absence of an elected body.
