Bengal panchayat polls notification Friday likely

The state Election Commission may notify the West Bengal panchayat elections Friday, an official said.

"The commission is eager and hopeful of resolving the impasse and it will Thursday meet Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Bani Brata Basu and Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee," a commission official said Wednesday.

"The meeting will be regarding security issues and we are already in the process of identifying sensitive and hypersensitive booths," said the official. "We may issue the notification of the polls Friday."

Following a bitter legal battle, the commission and the state government had concurred on the schedule of the three-phase elections for 17 districts to be held July 2, 6 and 9.

The revised poll schedule was announced by the government last week following a direction of the Calcutta High Court to conduct and conclude the polls before July 15.