Calcutta High Court refuses to stay Kolkata Municipal Corporation mayoral poll

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to stay the December 3 mayoral election of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The two contestants in the fray are Trinamool Congress candidate Firhad Hakim and BJP councillor Meena Devi Purohit.

Justice Debangshu Basak, however, ruled that the validity of the election and its outcome would depend on the court’s final judgment on the petition challenging the amendment to the KMC Act. The amendment allows someone, who is not a councillor, to contest a mayoral election. The court then fixed December 17 as the next date of hearing.

The petition was filed by CPM’s Ward No. 75 councilor Belquis Begum. The petitioner prayed that the court declare the amendment ultra vires of the Constitution.

During Friday’s hearing, the petitioner’s counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya argued that the amendment was beyond the competence of the state legislature and against provisions of the Constitution. Elaborating, the counsel argued that Article 243 (R) of the Constitution does not empower the state legislature to enact such an amendment.

Opposing the petition, state advocate general Kishore Dutta argued that no case was made out by the petitioner for an interim order on the petition. It is a legislaive decision, he said.

Appearing for the KMC, Shaktinath Mukherjee too opposed the petition, stating that by bringing in the amendment, the state government had not done anything unconstitutional as alleged by the petitioner.