West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday issued a notification announcing the five phased rural polls from July 11.
Following a protracted legal battle between the State Government and SEC, the apex court ordered that polls be held on July 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25. Polls would take place in 17 districts of the state.
As per the new notification, polls will be held in the three Maoist-affected districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore on July 11.
On July 15, polls will be held in East Midnapore, Hooghly and Burdwan.
Elections will take place in Howrah, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas on July 19.
For the fourth phase, on July 22, elections will take place in Malda, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia.
In the last phase (fifth), polls will be held in the North Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar (North) Dinajpur and Dakshin (South) Dinajpur.
According to sources in SEC, the Commission will meet with the Director General of Police and State Home Secretary to decide on phase-wise security deployment. Central forces will start arriving from July 8.
“An all-party meeting to discuss issues on Panchayat polls has been scheduled on Saturday,” a source said.
ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in