Elections are likely to be held to over 100 civic bodies in the state in April and the order effectively means no municipal polls will be held in Darjeeling alongside. The basic contention of Bhandari was that if fresh elections were held, the writ petition would be infructuous. “I argued that if fresh elections were held during the pendency of the writ petition, the plea would itself become infructuous,” said Bhandari. If the writ petition succeeds, the dissolved board could be reinstated, sources said. There are 32 wards in Darjeeling municipality and the five-year tenure comes to an end only in 2022.

Source: The Telegraph February 20, 2020 22:18 UTC