The State Election Commission is mulling to conduct panchayat polls in three to four phases from the first week of May. But BJP has threatened to move court if the poll process is started before 14 April on the ground that there is an embargo on playing loudspeakers due to the board examinations till then.
Sources in the commission said that it is in favour of beginning the poll process from the first week of May and completing it by 15 May.
With Ramzan starting from 16 May and continuing for a month, the commission does not want to go ahead with the poll process during this period.
In such a case, the polls will have to be held after 16 June. As the tenure of the existing panchayats are scheduled to expire on 31 June, the commission is against delaying the polls.
In order to hold the polls in the first week of May, it will need to notify it in the first week of April. Now, the BJP is against any such move.
“There is a reported judgement of Calcutta High Court in a case involving Mukul Roy and State Election Commission and state government with effect that no election process can be initiated during such a period when the use of loudspeaker is suspended. Such a ban on use of loudspeaker is prevalent in the state due to ongoing board examination that will continue till 14 April. No process of the panchayat polls including nomination and campaigning can be held during this period,” said Jay Prakash Majumdar, vice president of state BJP unit, after the two-hour long all party meeting with A K Singh, commissioner, State Election Commission. Mr Majumdar has also submitted a letter in this regard to the commissioner.
The Trinamul Congress and the Congress, on the other hand, have demanded at least 35 to 45 days time for campaigning.
Left Front legislative party leader Sujan Chakraborty said that the commission appeared to be completely unprepared for conducting the polls and has suggested that it should not rush ahead with the poll process as it would then be detrimental for the state. “We have demanded at least 35 to 45 days from the date of notification till the beginning of the polls,” said Mr Chakraborty.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties have jointly demanded deployment of central forces so as to conduct the polls peacefully. “When the state police has failed to control Ram Navami rallies how can they ensure that the polls are held peacefully?” questioned Mr Chakraborty.
The commissioner on Thursday informed the political parties that he has sought the opinion of the director general of police on the issue. The matter was also placed before the commission to which the commisioner allegedly responded that his “hands are tied”.
According to Congress and BJP teams, the commissioner’s working is akin to that of “a government official” instead of someone who represents an autonomous body.
Congress leader Riju Ghosal said Thursday’s meeting could have been concluded much earlier as the commission could not provide any tentative date of holding the polls. The meeting was directionless, Mr Ghosal added.
While, the Left Front demanded holding polls on a single day, BJP said that it wants the polls to be peaceful and is not averse of holding the polls in either a single day or in phases.
The commissioner had also informed that he had written to the state government for observer’s list two months back but is yet to receive any information.
Trinamul Congress MLA Tapas Ray and party’s deputy chief whip, said that the party has full faith on the commission for conducting the polls in a peaceful manner. We want all voters of the panchayat samitis, zilla parishads and gram panchayats to cast their votes peacefully, Mr Ray added.
The commission on Thursday informed the political parties that an insurance amounting to Rs 10 lakh has been approved for the poll personnel, said Mr Majumdar.
There are 3358 gram panchayats with 48,751 seats, 341 panchayat samitis with 9240 seats and 20 zilla parishads with 825 seats. There are around 58,000 booths across the state.
Later, the DMs of north and south 24 Parganas and Howrah met Mr Singh and SUCI has submitted a deputation on conducting polls peacefully.