Tension mounted between the State Election Commission and the Bengal Government over the conduct of ensuing panchayat elections while the Opposition including Congress, left and the BJP on Tuesday launched a virulent attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress for “trying to bungle the rural polls with the help of administrative machinery and party goons.”
This even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remained firm on holding a two-phase election sans Central forces triggering speculation of the whole issue getting dragged to the court.
Particularly a defiant BJP said they were following the developments closely and would definitely move the court if polls were held without Central forces and in three phases.
Emerging from multi-round discussions featuring the Chief Minister, Advocate General, top officials and himself, Panchayat Minister Subroto Mukherjee took the Commission head on referring to its 11-page communiqué sent on Monday as a “school boyish stuff, full of irrelevant queries.”
In response to the Government’s unanimous announcement of two-phase elections on April 26 and 30 ignoring SEC’s proposal for a three-phase one with the help of Central forces the Commission had on Monday sent a letter to the Panchayat Department repeating its proposal and seeking information as to how it proposed to supply sufficient armed forces to man 59,000 booths. The State has only 38,000 armed forces.
Besides, the SEC had also referred to the reports submitted to it by most Collectors and SPs expressing concern over the prevailing law and order situation.
Curiously a day after the Commission held a meeting with the district police chiefs, the Chief Minister had announced that she would personally evaluate the performance of the SPs instead of their superior officers.
“There is no question of changing the dates. We stick to two-phase polls with State forces,” the Panchayat Minister said, adding the Government had however decided to hold polls in five North Bengal districts in the first phase and the 12 South Bengal districts in the second phase.
As per earlier announcement, the Government had declared elections in 14 districts in the first phase and three Congress-held districts in the second leading the PCC leadership to allege that the Trinamool was trying to finish off the Congress in the State in order to minimise its bargaining power ahead of 2014 general polls.
While the Commission sources on Tuesday said they would consider the next step after getting the Government missive, junior Railway Minister Adhir Chowdhury came down heavily on Trinamool saying “this Government is trying to make a mockery of the rural elections. They want to usurp power and finish off the dreams of Rajiv Gandhi who wanted maximum devolution of power. The Trinamool Congress knows well that they will be wiped out in the panchayat elections if they do not use muscle power. Hence this arrangement.”
PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya said the “Government is trying to take control of the villages either by rigging the elections or by getting it postponed as they know if things roll over to the court then they will get ample chance of controlling the villages through administrators.”
On the Government’s minor climbdown on Tuesday in which it slightly adjusted the area of polls under first and second phase, State BJP president Rahul Sinha said his party would settle for nothing less than a three-phase poll with Central forces. The BJP has already warned of moving the court if its conditions were not met.