Ahead of Panchayat polls, Election Commissioner meets Governor

Kolkata: State Election Commissioner A K Singh on Wednesday met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and briefed him about the preparations for the Panchayat elections scheduled on May 1, 3 and 5.

"I briefed him about the security arrangement in place for filing of nominations and also informed him about the security measures that we are planning to put in place during the elections," Singh told reporters while leaving Raj Bhavan after the meeting.

Responding to a question on whether there were discussions about Central Force deployment, Singh only answered in the positive and did not elaborate.

There have been reports of violence during filing of nominations for the Panchayat polls that had begun from Monday and will continue till April 9.

Top brass of the state secretariat, including Chief Secretary Moloy De, met the Governor on Wednesday.

BJP workers held a demonstration outside the State Election Commission office, demanding free and fair elections.

Alleging that the SEC is "incapable" of holding peaceful elections, the BJP said it has decided to move the Supreme Court with a plea to make arrangements for free and fair polls.

Trinamool Congress has termed the allegations as "baseless". The BJP has filed 1,147 nominations, while CPI-M has filed 351. But still they are alleging that they are being prevented from filing nominations," said Partha Chatterjee, minister of Parliamentary Affairs. A Trinamool Congress delegation will meet the Governor on Thursday.

CPI-M state secretary Suryakanta Misra on Wednesday advised workers of all the Opposition parties to go to file the nomination together and resist if there is any violence to stop them. He criticised the State Election Commission for holding poll on the International Workers' Day, which falls on May 1.