Only court can direct postponement of panchayat polls: WB govt

With the State Election Commission having held that it would not compromise on security for next month's grassroot polls, West Bengal Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee today said that only the court could decide on its postponement.

"Elections will be held. All preparations are underway and filing of nominations are on. The matter is now in court and only the court can say if the elections are not to be held on grounds of inadequate security," Mukherjee told reporters here.

On the non-availability of Central forces as sought by the SEC, Mukherjee, a senior TMC leader said, "There have been seven panchayat elections earlier in West Bengal which were held without the deployment of Central forces."

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had last Wednesday said that the Central government has expressed inability to provide such forces for deployment during the panchayat polls.

Yesterday was the last day of withdrawal of nominations for the first phase of the polls and the SEC was flooded with complaints of threat and use of force to withdraw candidature.

State Election Commissioner Mira Pandey had said that the SEC had received a few thousand complaints so far. She had also said that the SEC had received a letter from the state government on unavailability of Central forces. Pandey had, however, stressed that the High Court guideline on manning of polling booths was quite clear and that the SEC wanted to ensure security arrangements before the polls.

On the opposition's allegation of withdrawal of nominations by such candidates following threats from the ruling party, Mukherjee said, "I have said earlier and (am) saying it again that the CPI(M) and Congress are not prepared to face the elections.

"That is why they are making such allegations. Neither party will hardly find candidates to field," he claimed.