The West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday moved the High Court seeking a stay on the notification issued by the State Government regarding panchayat polls (rural polls).
The Court has, however, not accepted the petition on grounds that the matter was not listed to come up for hearing. The Election Commission will have to go through the pre-set process of listing the petition so that it might come up for hearing tomorrow.
The petition was filed before Justice Biswanath Samaddar. The matter is expected to come up for hearing tomorrow.
The Panchayat Department of the State Government had last month (in March) issued a notification to conduct panchayat polls in two phases — April 26 and April 30.
Initially, it was announced that polls would be held across 14 districts in the first phase, followed by three in the second.
The State Election Commission had objected to the notification following which the State Government decided that polls would be held across 11 south Bengal districts in phase I. Elections would be carried out across five north Bengal districts and Murshidabad in phase II.
However, the Election Commission had sought deployment of para-military forces during the elections - a proposal that was scrapped by the State Government.
Both the State Government and Election Commission had remained adamant on their respective stands.
With no solution in sight, political and legal observers had pointed out that the two — State Government and Election Commission — were heading for a legal showdown.
The Commission had called on the Governor M.K. Narayanan for his intervention in the matter.
The petition
An official announcement is yet to come from either the State Government or the Election Commission.
However, those aware of the matter said the petition sought scrapping of the notification as it was ‘unilateral’ and without any consultation with the Election Commission.
The fallout
The move, however, puts a big question mark on the feasibility of carrying out panchayat elections in the State. The tenure of most panchayats and related local bodies in the State is set to end in May this year. If elections are not held within the stipulated time, the rural bodies are to be disbanded. Bureaucrats and civil servants such as the Block Development Officer would head these bodies. However, in such a situation the State stands to lose out on all Central funds released for rural development.
Meanwhile, it is also learnt that the State unit of the BJP is likely to file a petition challenging the Constitutional validity of certain clauses relating to the notification of election dates in the West Bengal Panchayat Raj Act.