High court rejects plea for postponment of municipal election

The Calcutta High Court today rejected a petition by BJP in West Bengal seeking postponement of elections to 91 municipalities in the state till the Centre could provide paramilitary forces.
BJP's counsel Som Mandal submitted before Justice I P Mukherjee that there was a possiblity of violence in the April 25 elections to 91 municipalities spread over different parts of West Bengal.
Mandal claimed that there was large-scale violence in the elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation last Saturday and that similar incidents might occur on April 25.
BJP prayed that the elections to these municipalities be postponed till the Centre could provide paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair elections.

The Centre had earlier declined a request by the state election commissioner to provide central forces for the municipal polls.
Claiming that ruling Trinamool Congress had resorted to rigging of votes in the KMC elections, BJP's counsel prayed that forensic test of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) used in the elections be held to find out whether the machines were tampered with.
Justice Mukherjee rejected both the pleas for lack of evidence to support the claims.