CPI(M) leader Chayan Bhattacharya also opposed the proposal. Referring to the administrative arrangements introduced in 2020, he said ward councillors had been made administrators irrespective of their political affiliations.
“BJP wants to make its own party members administrators. We strongly object to this,” he said, warning that civic services had already suffered under the present KMC administration. “It is easily understandable what will happen if they put their administrators in each ward,” he added.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty accused the BJP of attempting to run municipalities through handpicked individuals rather than seeking a democratic mandate.
Congress leader Ashutosh Chattopadhyay, meanwhile, alleged that the government was seeking to take control of civic bodies following an ‘unscientific’ delimitation exercise.
However, Adhikari’s attempt to blame the Opposition for the delay in civic elections leaves out a crucial part of the story: the Calcutta High Court’s intervention followed a legal challenge to the government’s own ward delimitation exercise.
Speaking at a Chhath Puja event in Kazipara, Howrah, Adhikari alleged that residents had been deprived of proper civic services for nearly 12 years because municipal elections had not been held. He blamed the Opposition for approaching the high court over the ward delimitation process and obstructing the electoral exercise.
“Those who know they will lose are trying to stop the elections,” he said. He also argued that government officials could not run a municipal corporation indefinitely because their administrative powers were limited.
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