Why no separate election date for Junglemahal? SEC may ask govt today

A senior official of the state election commission said on Sunday that there was no uniformity in the division of districts for the two phases,and so the Commission may send a letter to the state government asking why such skewed division of districts for holding the panchyat polls.

“It would have made sense if the three Maoist-hit districts of Bankura,Purulia and West Midnapore were bracketed together,and elections were held there in a separate phase as was done by the Election Commission of India during the 2011 Assembly elections. These are disturbed areas and need more security personnel,” said a senior official of the Commission.

“But clubbing together Malda,Murshidabad and North Dinajpur make no sense at all. Clearly,this is prompted by political considerations,” the officer added.

At the Monday’s meeting,the SEC is likely to discuss the government notification at length and decide its future course of action after its proposal of holding the elections in the three phases under the watch of Central paramilitary forces were completely rejected by the government.

It is most likely that the Commission may urge the government to reconsider its decision of holding the upcoming polls in two phases before exploring other possible recourses to settle the issue.

“We will discuss on the state government’s communiqué in length on Monday and take the final call,” said SEC secretary Tapas Roy.

His latest: ‘Bark & no bite’

PANCHAYAT Minister Subrata Mukherjee on Sunday slammed the opposition parties for questioning the government over its decision to hold the panchayat elections in two phases saying the government can never function pursuing narrow political interests.

On being criticised for assigning a separate poll date for the Congress stronghold districts,Mukherjee said: “We have not divided the phases on the basis of Congress strongholds or Communist strongholds. We have divided the phases on the basis of shifting of police forces.”

Taking a dig at the opposition parties for their stinging criticisms of the government’s unilateral announcement of poll dates,the minister remarked,“Those who shout don’t bite.”