Bengal Governor denies signing Howarh civic body amendment bill

KOLKATA: West Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said he is yet to sign the Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and it is under consideration as inputs from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are awaited, a day after the Bengal Advocate General made a submission before the Calcutta High Court that the Raj Bhavan cleared the bill on Wednesday.

Accordingly, on Thursday, the State Election Commission proposed elections to Howrah Municipal Corporation, along with Bidhannagar, Asansol, Siliguri and Chandernagore, on January 22.

The polls to Howrah and Bally were earlier planned to be held along with Kolkata Municipal Corporation on December 19.

The revelation comes as a major embarrassment to the state government as well as to the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Taking to Twitter, Dhankhar said: "Reports in media that West Bengal Governor Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has put his seal of approval on the Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 are not correct. It is under consideration under Article 200 of Constitution as inputs @MamataOfficial are awaited."

Article 200 of the Constitution empowers a Governor to either give or withhold assent to a bill or reserve it for the consideration of the President.

The Howrah Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that proposed to separate 16 wards of Bally Municipality from the jurisdiction of the HMC, was passed by the state assembly recently. The state government had also proposed to conduct the elections of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Howrah Municipal Corporation together but as the Bill was pending with the governor so the HMC election had to be deferred.

Meanwhile, West Bengal State Election Commissioner Saurav Das called-on Dhankhar on Friday and discussed issues related to pending polls to civic bodies in the state, amid allegations of rigging and intimidation against the ruling TMC by opposition camps during the just-concluded Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections. Elections to 111 municipal bodies are due in the state. (IANS)

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