Thursday, May 16, 2013
Kolkata: The confrontation over panchayat (village council) polls is turning out be an unending saga between West Bengal government and State Election Commission (SEC). Inspite of the Calcutta High Court ruling that by Friday both the parties have to decide on the polling dates, no agreement is in sight.
The state government wants to complete the process of elections before July 5 since the state assembly resumes session on July 7, which is also the start of the holy month of Ramadan. But SEC wants elections to start on July 2 and end with counting on July 13.
“There is a serious logistical difficulty in following the demands of the SEC,” said a state government official, close to the developments. “Rural people who are voters in such elections are more religious. Of the total number of voters in Bengal, 26 per cent are Muslims who will observe Ramadan. The government wants more people to vote, but in this case the turnout may be poor if polls are held after the start of the holy month.”
The disagreement is also over the list that the SEC has presented to the court, classifying various polling stations, where 57 per cent of the 57,000-odd polling booths have been marked as sensitive and highly sensitive. According to the government that list is primarily prepared by the state Home department after consultations with District Magistrates and Superintendent of Police of the districts, which can be changed by the commission if any untoward incident happens during campaigning. But here the commission has already prepared that list without any consultation with the department. Going by the court’s guideline on force deployment, the state will need an additional 40,000 forces for the polls, to be bought from other states. Senior government officials informed the state has already decided against shifting the central forces now on duty in Maoist infested areas. Government’s stand is indicative of the fact that the state would press for reducing the number of sensitive and highly sensitive booths, thus minimising the need to bring in security forces from outside the state.
SEC though not willing to divulge any details of the discussion has called an all party meeting tomorrow to finalise the polling dates. The Commission will keep a close watch on the consultations and may move a contempt petition before the division bench of the Calcutta high court in case there is a major deviation from the court guideline on deployment of security forces.
By Archisman Dinda Correspondent
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