Suvendu Adhikari, Chief Minister of West Bengal
| Photo Credit:
Manvender Vashist Lav
The elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will be held by December this year after delimitation of municipal wards, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Monday.
The Corporation is currently under an administrator following an ‘administrative deadlock’ after the resignation of Mayor Firhad Hakim earlier this month. Hakim has been one of the loyalists serving the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress since the party was founded.
“There was an impasse in the Corporation after the Mayor’s resignation. So, the State Government gave three days to constitute a new board. Since the new board could not be formed, the government dissolved the existing board and appointed an administrator. By December 7, through elections, the civic body will be handed over to elected representatives,” Adhikari said during a programme at the KMC headquarters.
The Chief Minister proposed a delimitation exercise in the wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation before the elections. Explaining the rationale behind the exercise, he said that while some wards have over 40,000 to 50,000 voters, the electorate count in some other wards is only around 8,000 to 10,000.
“The government is in favour of conducting the election only after carrying out delimitation of wards,” Adhikari said.
Later, speaking to mediapersons, Adhikari said the BJP Government in West Bengal wants an elected body to take charge of KMC and is not keen on ’occupying’ the board through ’backdoor means’.
“Kolkata Municipal Corporation services are similar to emergency services. Elections will be conducted by the first week of December. We wanted the existing party (Trinamool Congress), which has the majority, to form the new board after the Mayor resigned. But if their party can not decide on who will be the Mayor, what can the State Government do?” he added.
Riding on a massive anti-incumbency wave against the erstwhile Trinamool Congress government, the BJP recorded a historic landslide victory in the Assembly elections held in April. The saffron party’s win ended 15 years of TMC rule and marked a watershed moment for the party as it dismantled Mamata Banerjee’s bastion. The party won 208 seats, reducing the TMC to just 80 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
Published on June 15, 2026
