SEC agrees with govt over district distribution

Says the panchayat polls will be notified this week

The State Election Commission today agreed to the formula proposed by the West Bengal government for district wise holding of the panchayat elections in three phases and said the polls would be notified this week.

"As of now, yes. We will issue the notification by this week," state election commissioner Mira Pandey said when asked whether the SEC has agreed to the 9-4-4 district distribution formula by the state government.

Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee told a meeting at Singur in Hooghly district that the poll schedule would be known in the next few days.

"The panchayat poll will be held in three phases and we will be able to get sufficient police force from other states as polling will be staggered," he said. "We hope that the people will be with the Ma Mati Manush government and bless it," he said. Earlier, expressing displeasure at the SEC's failure to issue notification for the poll, Industries minister, Partha Chatterjee, told reporters here that the SEC at an all-party meeting on May 18 had promised to issue the notification within seven days, but it had not yet done so.

"At the all-party meeting, they had said that notification for the panchayat poll would be issued within seven days. Let them do so. We want early elections," the minister said.