Kolkata: The Bengal govt has appointed senior IAS officer Krishna Gupta as the new state election commissioner (SEC), the post lying vacant since last Sept after Rajiva Sinha retired.According to a govt notification, Dr Gupta, currently serving as additional chief secretary in the co-operation department, will assume charge after his retirement on superannuation on June 30, 2026.Dr Gupta, a 1991-batch IAS officer, will head the West Bengal State Election Commission, the constitutional body responsible for conducting elections to rural and urban local bodies across the state.The appointment comes at a crucial time as the state govt has initiated preparations to conduct elections in several municipalities, including the long-pending Howrah Municipal Corporation, where polls have been pending since 2018.CM Suvendu Adhikari has announced that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections will be held by the first week of Dec after a delimitation exercise. As the next SEC, Dr Gupta’s primary responsibility would be to spearhead this delimitation exercise.He will also be tasked with conducting elections in as many as 127 municipalities within the next eight months.Besides Howrah, municipalities where elections have remained pending for years include Durgapur, Domkal in Murshidabad, Raiganj in North Dinajpur, Buniadpur in South Dinajpur, Pujali in South 24 Parganas, Kurseong and Mirik in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Panskura and Haldia in East Midnapore, Cooper’s Camp in Nadia, Nalhati in Birbhum, Bally in Howrah and Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district. Administrative officials claimed that most of these municipalities last went to polls in 2017.Additionally, several municipalities and municipal corporations, including KMC, are functioning under administrators after the elected civic board resigned following the assembly election results.
