WB govt sticks to stand, to reply to SEC letter

Sticking to its stand on holding panchayat elections in two phases in April, West Bengal government today decided to reply to the State Election Commission (SEC) letter.
It also hoped that the SEC will issue poll notification during the day itself.
"We will be replying to the SEC letter hoping that it will issue the poll notification today itself so that panchayat elections can be held on April 26 and 30 as announced by the state government," state Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters here after a meeting with state chief secretary, home secretary and the panchayat secretary.
Asked about the of the government's reply to the poll panel, Mukherjee said, "There has been no change in our decision on conducting panchayat polls and have replied to certain queries raised by the Commission with regard to transfers of SDOs and BDOs."

Refusing to divulge the content of the SEC's letter, the Panchayat Minister rejected the state poll panel's suggestions of deploying para-military forces during panchayat elections in West Bengal.
"We don't find any justification in deploying para-military forces to conduct rural polls," he said adding the notification will help the government procure forces from other states to man the polls.
Unless the Commission issued the notification, the state government cannot seek forces from other states with the Centre's permission as per existing rules.
"We don't approve of deploying 800 companies of para-military forces and burden ourselves with an expense of Rs 400 crore...It is absurd," the Minister said.