The West Bengal Government on Friday expressed its willingness to conduct a three-phase panchayat election on July 2, July 6 and July 10. It said the counting should take place on July 13.
State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee told Business Line that the state Government has informed district-wise dates for conducting the polls to State Election Commission (SEC).
According to him, polls will be conducted in nine districts of South Bengal (Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia, East Midnapore and West Midnapore) in the first phase; Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and Birbhum districts in the second phase and North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri Cooch Behar districts in the last phase.
“We have intimated the Commission dates and division of districts for holding the polls,” Mukherjee said.
Following a prolonged legal battle between SEC and the State Government in Calcutta High Court, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi ordered on May 14 that a three-phase rural election has to be held by July 15. The tenure of the elected rural bodies will end in June.
Commission confirms
The Commission confirmed that it received the State’s notification and was “examining” it. “We are examining the notification. Accordingly, we will take a decision,” Tapas Ray, Secretary, SEC, said at a press conference later in the evening.
All-party meet
However, opposition parties – CPI(M) and Congress – objected to the dates announced by the State Government at an all-party meeting. Both CPI(M) and Congress cited that it would be difficult to hold polls in July since crucial religious festivals would take place during that time.
The opposition parties also expressed their concern over holding rural polls in the absence of central forces. Senior Congress leader Manas Ranjan Bhunia said panchayat polls should have been conducted with the support of central forces as it happened during Assembly elections in 2011.