WEST BENGAL PANCHAYAT POLL: State Election Commission V/S Mamta Bannerjee Govt.

Panchayat elections in West Bengal on Monday saw a new twist here with State Election Commission approaching High Court. The events that unveiled gradually were equally interesting with CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose calling in a press conference to point out Trinamool's internal clashes as the reason behind it delayed polls. Adding, not all party members were aware of the conspiracy that was being hatched; he also accused Mukul Roy and Subrata Mukherjee as being instrumental in the conspiracy.

Congress which otherwise echoed CPM on the conspiracy theory saw inevitable defeat as the sole motive of the Banerjee government for delaying the polls. He also went ahead saying, he had proofs that Trinamool workers were threatening Congress workers with which he may come up at a press conference soon.

Earlier on Saturday he had said, the congress workers were being threatened while door to door campaign and in some cases the congress candidates were even asked for a fine for contesting in the name of congress.

The Left in its meeting with Governor, M.K.Narayanan Monday urged him to use powers vested to his chair by the Constitution to ease the standoff in the state where the State Election Commission and the Mamata Bannerjee led government have locked horns over the phases and security arrangements of the of the upcoming rural body election elections which according to the state Government notification will be held on 26 and 31^st April.

While the commission wants the polls to be conducted in three stages with central security forces the government is keen on conducting it in two phases with the state police and if required with the forces from other states.

Panchayat Minister of West Bengal Subrat Mukherjee earlier had said that they cannot afford Central forces which would cost the state around 400 Crores. Commenting on this Bhattacharya said the source of revenue generation the government is referring to, actually belongs to the people of Bengal and it is its responsibility to conduct a free and fair election.

 According to legal experts, the law states that the state first proposes date after a series of discussion when it is comfortable to hold the election to the State Election Commission which if it deem fit is announced to the public. In this case the state government unilaterally took all the decisions.

The court is yet to admit the case, though left thinks that if the elections is deferred it may take a toll on the developments of the villages as the Panchayats won’t be receiving the central scheme funds once its tenure is over. The tenure of many panchayats in the state is set to expire by June end.

The left said that if deferred the polls may stretch to November last week or first week of December as it won’t be possible to hold election during the Durga Pujas.