Court asks Bengal to end panchayat polls by July 15

The Calcutta High Court Tuesday ordered the three-phase panchayat polls in West Bengal to be concluded by July 15, and asked the government to notify the schedule in consultation with the state election panel.

The government was given three days to notify the election dates.

The ruling of the division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice J.M. Bagchi came on the state government's appeal against the court's earlier verdict upholding the primacy of the State Election Commission (SEC) in directing the conduct of the polls in June.

The government had earlier issued notification for a two-phase poll, under the supervision of the state police personnel.

In the appeal, the government also sought an injunction on the verdict, citing it was "impractical to implement".

Disposing of the appeal, the division bench also set out a scheme of deployment of security personnel for the 57,000-odd polling booths.