‘Ramzan ahead’: Trinamool govt may ask SC to review poll dates

Trinamool Congress MP and party’s legal adviser Kalyan Banerjee Saturday said: “We are in a thinking process. We might appeal to the court to reschedule the poll dates due to Rathayatra and Ramzan.” Rathayatra starts from July 10 while Ramzan is from July 11.

Banerjee said the state government had voiced its concern regarding the poll dates when the case was being heard in the Supreme Court on Friday.

“We have no problem in holding the elections in five phases. But we requested the court to consider Ramzan and not fix the poll dates from July 10 to August 10,” said Banerjee while adding the state government wanted the polls to be over before Ramzan.

The state government also claimed that the minorities were raising questions about the poll dates. “Several sections of the minorities are asking if the election would have been held had the dates clashed with Durga Puja. We want the elections to be completed before Ramzan,which is why we would appeal in the apex court,” said Cabinet Minister Firhad Hakim.

Both Banerjee and Hakim,meanwhile,launched an attack on state election commissioner Meera Pandey. “The conspiracy has been hatched by the (state election) commissioner. She is not interested in holding the elections. She is more interested in going to the court. She is partial,” said Banerjee.