Written by: Express News Service
2 min readKolkataMay 23, 2013 05:06 AM IST
First published on: May 23, 2013 at 05:06 AM IST
STATE Election Commissioner Meera Pandey on Wednesday met Governor M K Narayanan on the issue of holding panchayat elections in the state. Sources said she updated the Governor about commission’s concern over lack of security forces to conduct the polls.
Her visit to Raj Bhavan comes a day ahead of state election commission’s meeting with Home Secretary and ADG (Law and Order) scheduled for Thursday. The two sides will discuss the availability of armed forces for the first phase of panchayat election scheduled for July 2.
Sources said while the commission has sought 80,000 armed force personnel for first phase in which nine districts will go to polls,the state government has conveyed it that about 35,000 armed personnel from state force and another 1200 from other states could be made available.
The commission is not satisfied with it and experts believe it has left its option open to move court against the state government if the latter fails to satisfy security arrangement.
Trinamool candidate violating model code: Cong to EC
THE state unit of Congress led by its chief Pradip Bhattacharya on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India,alleging violation of the model code of conduct by Trinamool Congress candidate Prasun Mukherjee in the upcoming Howrah bypoll.
The Congress delegation met Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and handed him the complaint. According to the Congress leaders,the Trinamool candidate has been distributing leaflets listing the “success stories” of the state government that completed two years. “It is a clear case of violation of the model code. We have requested the CEC to look into it,” Bhattacharya told The Indian Express over phone.
He said they have urged the EC to hold a free and fair poll. “Howrah has a history of rigging and other electoral malpractices. We have urged the EC to look into it,” he added.
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