Three-phase rural elections in May

TT, Calcutta: The Bengal panchayat polls will be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5 with the counting on May 8, the state election commission announced on Saturday.

The panel did not specify if central forces would be used, as the Opposition has demanded.

State election commissioner A.K. Singh said 12 districts will go to the polls on May 1, two on May 3 and the remaining six on May 5 (See chart). Asked whether the commission would seek central forces, Singh declined comment.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said such matters were the commission's prerogative. "These things are for the commission to decide, we don't interfere. Nobody should," Mamata said in response to a question about central forces. "I want elections to be free, fair and peaceful," she added.

In 2013, then commissioner Mira Pande had moved court over the matter, securing a favourable Supreme Court order that ensured deployment of central forces for the first time in the state's rural polls.

"Without central forces, polls in Bengal cannot be free, fair or peaceful...," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said on Saturday. He also accused the poll panel of "toeing the government's line" on dates. "Till mid-April, the exam season is on, which hinders a proper campaign because there are restrictions on the use of microphones. We will consider moving court."

Left legislature party leader, the CPM's Sujan Chakraborty, echoed the view. "This ruling establishment has made a hobby out of throttling democracy," said Chakraborty. Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said the Opposition was scared of facing the voters.

Political science professors questioned the schedule. They said conventionally, at least 35 days are kept between the announcement and the first date of polling but this time there were only 30 days. Also, May 1, Workers' Day, is a holiday and this was the first time in recent memory that an election was being scheduled that day.

"How will the police be mobilised adequately for the dense first phase (in 12 districts)?" asked Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University.