Civic administration :

The civic administration of Kolkata is executed by several government agencies, and consists of overlapping structural divisions. At least five administrative definitions of the city are available; listed in ascending order of area, those are: 1) Kolkata District, 2) the Kolkata Police area, 3) the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area ("Kolkata city"), 4) "Greater Kolkata", which includes the KMC area and a few neighbourhoods adjacent to it, and 5) the urban agglomeration or Kolkata Metropolitan Area (Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) is responsible for the statutory planning and development of the metropolitan area). Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)- The governance of the city proper—the area within which KMC has a directly-elected council of 141 ward councillors who elect a council Chairman and an an executiive Mayor. The Mayor, in turn chooses a Deputy Mayor and not more than 10 elected councillors to form the Mayor-in-Council whach works like a cabinet. In addition, there is a Municipal Accounts Committee (MAC)of five to seven elected councillors, other than the MiC, chosen through proportional represention, to act like a public accounts committee (PAC), usually headed by the Leader of Opposition. The MiC was introduced in 1980 and the system has been replicated in other Municipalities and Panchayats as Mayor/ Chairperson-in-council during 1981-1991. No other state in India has introduced a system of polical executive in local government.

(KMC) functions— The main functions of the KMC are water supply, drainage and sewerage, sanitation, solid wastes management, streets and public places, street lighting, and building regulation. Fire services are handled by a state agency- Kolkata Fire Brigade. Similarly, for the river port services, there is a Kolkata Port Trust, an agency of the central government.

Other authorities: the Collector of the Kolkata District, the Kolkata Police, the Collector/District Magistrate (DM) of South 24 Parganas District, and the Superintendent of Police (SP) of South 24 Parganas District.[59] As of 2008, the CPI(M) led Left Front holds the power in KMC. The city also has an apolitical titular post, that of the Sheriff of Kolkata.

As the capital of the state and the seat of the Government of West Bengal, Kolkata houses not only the offices of the local governing agencies, but also the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the state Secretariat (Writers' Building) and the Calcutta High Court. Kolkata also has lower courts; the Small Causes Court for civil matters, and the Sessions Court for criminal cases. The Kolkata Police, headed by the Police Commissioner, comes under the West Bengal Home Ministry. The city elects 3 representatives to the Lok Sabha (India's lower house) and 21 representatives to the state Legislative Assembly.