MUNICIPAL ELECTION

Mekhliganj ready for civic poll

 

COOCH BEHAR, June 19: Mekhliganj is getting ready for the ensuing civic polls. Already all the political parties intensified their campaigns to capture the seats. Union minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munsi and state minister Mr Ashok Bhattacharya are expected to address separate meetings organised by the Congress and the CPI-M on 22 June to add newer dimensions in the war for power of the civic body.

 

Mekhliganj is a small municipal town in Cooch Behar. There are nine wards only. In the previous municipal election the FB had fielded a ghost candidate in Mekhliganj and that seat posed as a problematic one during talks over seat sharing. Recently, after a few rounds of discussions the two LF partners came out from that tangle and a consensus was attained. It was decided that the CPI-M would field candidates in four and the FB in five seats. The Forward Bloc will get the post of chairman even if they win in one seat only.

 

District CPI-M secretary and district Left Front convenor Mr Chandi Pal said both the CPI-M and the FB agreed to fight jointly at Mekhliganj Municipality. District Forward Bloc secretary Mr Udayan Guha pointed out that distrust was there among the Forward Bloc supporters against the CPI-M. "We should do something to draw an end to it", he said.

 

Though it was decided that no party would field any ghost candidate but a few ghost candidates appeared this time too. Actually, the unity was attained at the upper level but that failed to bring any change at the lower levels of both the parties. The parties concerned may withdraw such candidates prior to the poll by circulating leaflets.

 

In the previous municipal election in Mekhliganj it was decided that the two LF partners would share the chairmanship of the board for two-and-half-year each but the CPI-M failed to keep its promise. The chairman (CPI-M) of the outgoing civic board reportedly denied leaving the chair in favour of the Forward Bloc and that irritated the Forward Bloc in entering any fresh unity move with the CPI-M. At last, a unity was achieved between the leaderships of both the parties but the outcome will be felt only after declaration of result, political observers opined. []