‘Speculations rife, Panchayat elections may be held in July’

kolkata: With Trinamool Congress announcing a 60-day campaign at the end of April, speculations are rife that the Panchayat polls may be held in July and not in May.

On Thursday, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee announced the campaign ‘Trinamool-a-Naba Jowar- (New Wave in Trinamool).’ The campaign, to be led by Abhishek, aims to cover 60000 rural booths in Bengal, starting from the hills to the seas. One of the main intentions behind holding this campaign is to ensure peaceful polls and decentralisation of power. Abhishek said that no one would be able to exercise their political clout to become a candidate in the Panchayat polls.

Though the idea behind the campaign sounds promising, the question that has been triggered by this announcement is when the Panchayat election is going to be conducted? Initially, the state’s Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi’s recent meeting with district administration — in which the top official ordered the district administrations to wrap up ongoing works by the third week of May — had sparked speculations that the elections might take place in the final week of next month. However, with the announcement of this 60-day campaign, chances are likely that the polls could be held in July.

Asked how Abhishek plans to finish this 60-day campaign if the poll dates are announced in between, he said that the campaign has nothing to do with the announcement of the polls. He is of the opinion that if poll dates are announced in the midst of the campaign, then it will be called off halfway but he will be covering as many Panchayats as possible till that time. Sources said that as per the established rule, it is the state government which needs to propose the dates to the State Election Commission (SEC) which will then take a call and issue a notification announcing the dates.

However, sources said that the state is not too keen on holding the polls in the searing summer heat and may wait out till the monsoon. This triggers the possibility of polls being held in July or August. This speculation also finds substance in the recent 60-day campaign announcement which if materialises to its fullest, will cover both May and June.

TMC insiders said that the campaign is vital for the party to gauge the pulse in rural Bengal before the poll dates are announced. To this effect, the TMC campaign will be providing voters with a chance to pick their candidates through a secret ballot.