West Bengal Municipal Election 2022: Voting is underway in West Bengal for 108 municipalities/civic bodies amid tight security. The voting commenced at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm. Early visuals from the polling booths showed long queues as people turned up to exercise their franchise. The voting is being held for 2,171 wards of the 108 municipalities and the counting of votes will take place on March 2. Over 95.6 lakh voters will be deciding the fate of 8,160 candidates.
The State Election Commission has deployed a total of 44,000 police personnel for the polls, with at least one armed police in every booth. As many as 135 observers, including 10 special senior observers and 108 general observers are keeping a close watch on the polling.
The SEC said that voting is not being held for 103 wards as only one candidate each filed nomination and was declared uncontested winners. Nearly all of these wards were won by the ruling TMC.
The ruling party is up against BJP, CPIM-led Left Front and Congress. Unable to secure party tickets, many TMC leaders are fighting as Independents.
The municipal polls have been a matter of power-tussle for both – the TMC and the BJP. While the TMC has maintained its dominance in the recently held civic polls, the BJP, which emerged as the only opposition party in state assembly polls held last year, is looking to rectify the faults at its grassroots level and further widen its support base. On the other hand, the CPI-M and the Congress are facing an existential crisis in the state after the 2021 assembly poll drubbing and have pinned their revival hopes on the local polls.