KOLKATA: Hours after the newly appointed state election commissioner announced that the panchayat election will be held in one phase on July 8 across the state, mercury in Bengal politics started soaring as both the BJP and the Congress moved the Calcutta High Court with a slew of demands. The court, in its preliminary observation, said the deadline for submitting a nomination is not adequate and asked the state poll panel to come up with its responses on Monday.
The court also directed the election commission to ensure videography of the entire process of nomination filing.
The state election commissioner Rajeeva Sinha, who was the former chief secretary of the state, said the poll panel would consider the deadline for filing nominations but the day slated for the elections would not be changed.
Sources in the commission said the poll panel is not in favour of deploying central force personnel demanded by the BJP. “We will seek additional police personnel from the neighbouring states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. Policemen with lathis will maintain the queue of voters and armed police personnel will stand guard at the polling booths,” said an officer of the commission.
The Congress also demanded to allow the state election officer or district magistrate to accept the nomination of candidates citing the violence in previous rural polls. The 2018 panchayat elections witnessed massive violence and blood-shed during the filing of nominations and opposition parties alleged thousands of their candidates were not allowed to submit their nominations.
The Apex court also expressed its surprise over the issue of 30 per cent of total seats won by the ruling Trinamool Congress uncontested.
Generally, Zilla parishad candidates submit nominations at the office of the district magistrates while candidates for panchayat samitis and panchayats submit nominations at the office of the sub-divisional officer (SDO) or the office of the block development officer (BDO).
The panchayat elections are considered to be a litmus test for all parties in the state to gauge their grass-root level electoral strength ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged the ruling party would ensure the victory of its candidates by utilising the state police force. “If the police will not act at the behest of the ruling party, we will teach the TMC a lesson", he said.
Chowdhury also pointed out that the party is in support of forming an alliance with the CPI(M) in the rural polls. “We will field candidates for the seats wherever Congress or CPI(M) is strong,” he added.