West Bengal Panchayat Elections to be Rescheduled, Calcutta High Court Orders SEC to Announce New Dates
Reacting the court's order, the BJP said the ruling Trinamool Congress has been exposed for "unleashing hooliganism in the garb of democracy".
Kolkata, April 20: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered the State Election Commission to announce new days for the panchayat elections in 20 districts across the state.
The order came while the court was hearing the petition filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking extension of the nomination dates, alleging arm-twisting methods resorted to by the ruling party elements to prevent the filing of nominations by the Opposition candidates.
Reacting to the court's order, the BJP said the ruling Trinamool Congress has been exposed. "The TMC has been trampling over the norms of democracy. They want to rig the entire rural elections. But, thankfully, the court has intervened in the case," said party leader Chandra Bose.
The BJP, along with the CPI(M) and Congress, had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking deployment of central forces for the conduct of panchayat polls, accusing the state police of "acting on behest of the TMC government".
The apex court, while refusing to order the deployment of central forces, asked the SEC to ensure a "free and fair election" is conducted.
A total of 825 seats across 20 zilla parishads, along with 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats and 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis are slated to be contested. As per the earlier schedule released by the SEC, the polls were to be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5. The counting of votes were scheduled on May 12.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2018 04:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).