North Bengal prepares for panchayat polls

EOI, SILIGURI, DECEMBER 2, 2022: Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal Ariz Aftab who is on a visit to north Bengal on Friday morning had a meeting with District Magistrates, Additional District Magistrates and Election Officers of the three districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and North Dinajpur at the Siliguri State Guest House. 

A head of the panchayat elections, the final voter list would be notified on January 5.According to sources, the State Election Commission has started preparations to organize panchayat elections in the state in February. 

For Darjeeling and Kalimpong, there is the issue of the hills would witness a two-tier or a three-tier panchayat election. 

The state government had earlier extended December 5 to December 31 the period for registration of new voters and amendment process related to voter list from local areas. 

The sources said that the draft of seat reservation in these two districts was also submitted at the meeting.

District Magistrate of Darjeeling S Punambalam, District Magistrate of Kalimpong R Vimala and North Dinajpur District Magistrate Arvind Kumar Meena were present in the meeting.

Later in the day, the CEO left for Jalpaiguri where he would hold a meeting with the administrative officials of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur districts.