The state election commission on Monday decided to put on hold polls to 100-odd civic bodies in Bengal because of Covid-19, triggering the possibility of appointment of administrators at the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and 85 other civic bodies.

Other than the 86, 18 civic bodies — including the Howrah Municipal Corporation and the Darjeeling municipality — are already under administrators.

On Monday, the state election commission held an all-party meeting where there was a “unanimous” agreement to its proposal of not holding the civic polls till the situation improves. The Mamata Banerjee government and the Trinamul Congress had already backed the postponement of the polls.

“We will review the situation in a few days, may be, after seven days or after 15 days, and decide on the next course of action,” said state election commissioner Saurav Das. He said the allied work of preparing for the elections will continue on the panel’s side.

“The state and the commission are ready to hold the polls. All official work, like the collection of electoral data will still continue,” said Das.

The all-party meeting was attended by Subrata Bakshi and Tapas Roy of Trinamul, and Joyprakash Majumder and Sabyasachi Dutta from the BJP. Sujan Chakraborty and Pradip Bhattacharya represented the Left Front and the Congress, respectively.

The Opposition leaders accused Das of “predetermining” the delay of polls and then communicating the decision to them.

“We were asked for our opinion after the commissioner had already decided against holding the elections,” said Dutta, the former Bidhannagar mayor who had left Trinamul to join the BJP.

Left legislature party leader Chakraborty said: “The ruling party is afraid to face elections and it is evident from this predetermination.”

Despite the criticism, all the parties agreed on the need for deferring the elections in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The terms of the existing boards of councillors at all the 86 civic bodies expire at different dates in May. According to a commission source, a civic body must go to polls before the completion of five years from the date of the first board meeting.

Rules stipulate appointment of administrators to run civic bodies in the absence of elected boards.

“In case the Covid-19 situation doesn’t get better, we might not be able to hold elections before June — when the monsoon arrives — after Ramzan gets over at the end of May,” said the source. “Although there isn’t any law that bars elections during the Ramzan, the state government generally avoids local polls during that period.”

After the monsoon, there will be the long spell of festival season from Durga Puja till the New Year’s Day. “Then, the state will go into Assembly election mode,” the source said.