Inform us of security cover for panchayat polls, Congress urges SEC

Concerned over security issues during the upcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal, the Congress Saturday said it has urged the State Election Commission to inform it about the security arrangements for polling days.

The three-phase rural body elections in the state will be held on July 2, 6 and 10.

"We have already sent a letter to the Election Commission, urging it to let us know what kind of security arrangements would be put in place during the upcoming Panchayat elections.

As a political party, we have the right to know about the police bandobast that would be in place to maintain law and order during the polls," state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya said here.

"We would also like to know from the commission whether police forces would be deployed at the time of filing nomination papers for the elections. Security arrangement is very important for the Congress candidates as well as candidates of other parties for filing their papers peacefully," he said.

Bhattacharya also demanded that the Trinamool Congress government should arrange the required number of police forces as asked by the commission for the polls.

"I am hopeful that the commission will inform us soon about the security issues," he added.

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.