Following the Calcutta High Court order, the state election commission announced that panchayat polls will be held on May 14 which was earlier considered as a tentative date for holding the election.
The West Bengal state election commission on Thursday said that state panchayat polls will be held on May 14 following a Calcutta High Court order which said it was up to the poll panel to decide the date.
The division bench of Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee said this while hearing a petition filed by the Congress which sought quashing of the single-phase state panchayat polls on grounds of inadequate security arrangements.
The court also said that the panchayat elections must be held in a free and fair manner, adding that the state government will be held responsible for any loss of lives and property in violence during the polls. It also said that the Mamata Banerjee-led state government will pay compensation in such cases.
Following the high court order, the state election commission announced that panchayat polls will be held on May 14 which was earlier considered as a tentative date for holding the election.
Welcoming the High Court order, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said, “We welcome this order. Three friends (CPM, Congress and BJP) wanted to delay the election process by moving the court. But they have not succeeded. The people of the state who want to participate in the election are happy with the verdict.”
Although the Congress had filed the PIL before the division bench, other parties like CPM, BJP and PDS were made parties to it. “We are not happy with the verdict,” said state BJP general secretary Prarap Banerjee.