Panchayat polls: WB minister meets Governor on stand-off

West Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee today met Governor M K Narayanan on the stalemate with the State Election Commission over holding of the panchayat elections and "explained" the government's stand.
"I met the Governor today and explained the government's stand on holding the panchayat polls in the state. We are not able to honour the demands raised by the State Election Commission relating to dates and deployment of central forces during the polls," Mukherjee told reporters after the meeting.
Saying the government had cooperated with the commission in various ways, Mukherjee pointed out, "We wanted the polls to be held in a single phase, but changed to two phases on the commission's request. We had already paid Rs 100 crore to the commission for the purpose."

The government has announced that the elections would be held on April 26 and 30.
Mukherjee said while the dates would stay unchanged, the combinations of districts which would go to the polls would be altered.
"There will be a notification which has to be issued and there is still time for that," he said.

The minister also ruled out the possibility of deployment of central forces during polling, saying law and order was a state subject and the government was aware of this.
"It is our intention to hold the polls in a free and fair manner," he said.

The Mamata Banerjee-led government had earlier unilaterally issued notification for holding the panchayat elections in two phases.
The State Election Commission has been insisting on a three-phase poll in the presence of central forces. State Election Commissioner Mira Pandey had met the Governor over the issue yesterday.