The Congress and the Trinamul Congress have fielded separate candidates for the mayor and the chairperson, two posts for which elections be held tomorrow exposing the rift in the alliance that had wrested the Siliguri Municipal Corporation from the Left Front after 28 years.
The district magistrate of Darjeeling, Surendra Gupta, said unlike other elections, the nominations could not be withdrawn and voting would be through secret ballots. “There is no provision of withdrawal in the municipal act, under which the election will be conducted. We will be present to conduct and monitor the poll process,” Gupta said.
With scopes of withdrawal lost, any last-minute deal will now be unofficial.
Trinamul district president Gautam Deb has been selected the mayoral candidate while Arindam Mitra, the councillor for Ward 13, will contest for the chairman’s post. The Congress has projected Gangotri Dutta of Ward 12 as the mayor and Sabita Devi Agarwal as the chairperson.
Trinamul, which has won 14 seats in the 47-ward corporation and enjoys the support of the lone Independent, is, however, still hoping that elections will be averted.
The Congress bagged 15 seats and has been staking claim to the mayor’s post, citing the number factor and claiming that the region is a stronghold of the party.
“We could not reach a consensus (with the Congress on the choice of mayor),” Deb said after coming out of the SMC commissioner’s chamber today. “Nevertheless, options for adjustment are still open and we will prefer to see that no elections are held tomorrow.”
Since all the 47 councillors have the right to exercise the franchise, those from the Left Front are expected to play a decisive role especially if there is cross-voting between the Congress and Trinamul.
Asok Bhattacharya, the district Left Front convener and the municipal affairs minister, however, refused to reveal much. “All we can say is that such moves (filing of nominations by both parties) would only lead to a state of uncertainty and instability at the SMC. Regarding participation of our councillors in the election, we are yet to decide.”
At the district Congress office, tempers flared and charges flew over the choice of the party leader of the civic body. The rift has been evident from the time the election results were declared on September 15 and had been divided on its choice of the leader.
While a section preferred the “clean image” of Gangotri Dutta, others wanted a veteran like Gouri Dutta. Some others felt that Nantu Pal should be “rewarded” for having deserted the CPM and joining the Congress.
This afternoon, Pal stormed out of the party office when Shankar Malakar and Biswaranjan Sarkar, the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district presidents of the Congress were discussing the nominees with Raiganj MP Deepa Das Munshi and PCC member Sankar Singha. Journalists waiting outside the room overheard Malakar plead: “Nantu, listen, don’t go away. Don’t act like an immature person.” He raced after Pal down the stairs and tried to persuade him to stay back even as Gangotri’s name was finalised as the mayoral candidate.
Soon, a number of women councillors — all 15 of them were present — expressed their resentment, blaming the leadership for choosing Gangotri, questioning why Gouri was being left out.
This was not the end. Malakar then paraded some of the probable candidates for the chairperson’s post in front of Das Munshi and Singha. Finally, the selectors zeroed in on Sabita Devi Agarwal, who won from Ward 9.
At 12.40pm, the Congress leaders, led by Malakar, started for the SMC and reached the commissioner’s chamber minutes before the filing of nomination ended at 1pm.
“We are open to discussion and still believe that there are scopes for negotiation. Regarding the elections, we are confident that our candidates will win,” said Malakar.
Paritosh Roy, the SMC commissioner, said election of the mayor would be conducted under the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2006 and Siliguri Municipal Corporation (Procedure & Business Conduct) Rules, 1996.
“All the 47 councillors will take oath in the morning tomorrow. After that the voting will take place through secret ballot,” Roy said.
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