West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s efforts to hold early panchayat polls (towards the end of January and first week of February) received a major setback as the Election Commission has rejected her request to postpone the revision and updating of the voter list. At her behest, state chief secretary Samar Ghosh had urged the state Election Commission to advance the rural polls in the state in January end instead of the schedule time of May.
Since election process and revision of electoral rolls could not go hand in hand, Mr Ghosh had urged the commission to put on hold the latter. The Election Commission of India informed the state Election Commission that since the voter list updating and revision would begin across the country from October 1, West Bengal could not be made an exception.
The first phase of voter list revision will be held between October 1 and October 19 during which claims and objections will be filed. The second phase will begin on October 31 and end on November 9. The final revised electoral rolls would be published on January 2. Earlier it was scheduled to be published on January 15. “Now it does not seem possible that the rural polls could be held in January and February as Didi desired. They cannot be held in March/April either because of the Madhyamik, Higher Seco-ndary and other examinations,” a Trinamul state minister said.
Sources said that the Election Commission’s rejection of the chief secretary’s request was prompted by the strong objections raised by both the Left Front and the Congress. A Left delegation led by Nilotpal Basu and a Congress delegation led by senior Congress leader Manas Bhunia separately met Election Commission in Delhi and insisted that the revision of voter list should not be kept on hold in Bengal.
Expressing his happiness over the EC’s decision, CPI(M) leader Anisur Rahman said that it averted a possible political chaos and unrest. “Ms Banerjee was desperate to hold early elections but she did not realise that even if new panchayats were elected, the existing bodies would continue work till the expiry of their tenure in May. This would have led to an explosive situation. We welcome the EC’s sagacious decision,” he added.
Echoing his view, the state Congress spokesperson Abdul Mannan said that heavens would not fall if the polls were held as per schedule.