Bengal poll panel told to hold talks on rural polls

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to consult all stakeholders as far as security arrangements for holding the panchayat polls were concerned. The development comes after widespread violence was reported during the last day for filing of nominations for the rural polls on Monday.

“It is made clear that the consultation by the SEC on the aspect of security arrangements with the stakeholders shall be meaningful without seeking to at all impinge on the Commission’s prerogative to carry forwards the electoral process,” the order by Justice Subrata Talukdar said.

Application accepted

The court, however, refused to intervene in the petition by the Opposition parties to extend the date for nominations. Justice Talukdar, however, directed the SEC to accept the nomination papers of independent candidates from Bhangar area who being unable to file their nomination papers in person and sent it to the authorities concerned through a messenger app using Internet services.

During the day, there were a number of meetings between officials of the State Election Commission and the West Bengal government representatives but they failed to arrive at a consensus on the dates for holding the panchayat polls. The development came after violence was reported across different districts of the State on Monday.