Oppn claims fall flat as SEC outs stats of nominations

Kolkata: The statistics of nomination filing that was released by the state Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, has raised serious questions over the Opposition's claims that they have been prevented from doing so.

In the three-tier Panchayat that comprises Zilla Parishads (ZP), Panchayat Samitis (PS) and Gram Panchayats (GP), BJP has filed more nominations than Trinamool Congress.

The number of nominations filed by CPI-M at GP is also higher than that of TMC, while Congress has filed more nominations in ZP than TMC on Monday, which was the extended date for nomination filing for the Panchayat polls, as announced by the High Court.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, in an interview with a private television channel, refuted the allegations of the Opposition that they have been prevented from filing nominations.

"As per statistics, the Opposition have filed as many as 96,000 nominations, which is a clear pointer to the fact that their allegations are false and baseless," Banerjee said.

According to SEC, in Zilla Parishad (ZP), BJP has filed as many as 71 nominations on Monday, which is much higher than TMC, which filed 25 nominations. CPI-M filed 22 nominations, only 3 less than that of TMC, whereas Congress filed 53 nominations.

In Panchayat Samiti (PS), BJP has filed 339 nominations, which is 100 more than TMC, which filed 239 nominations. CPI-M filed 235 nominations, while Congress filed 163.

In Gram Panchayat (GP), BJP filed 1,077 nominations, which is much higher than TMC, which filed 663 nominations. CPI-M has filed 759 nominations, whereas Congress has filed 467.

TMC, however, exceeds the number of total nominations filed for the Panchayat elections. The nomination filing was held from April 2 to 9 and the extended day was April 23. The total number of nominations by TMC in ZP is 1,085, followed by BJP with 832, CPI-M with 568 and Congress with 430. The total number of seats in ZP is 832.

In PS, TMC has filed a total of 12,860 nominations, while BJP managed to file 6,351, CPI-M 235 and Congress 163. The total number of seats in PS is 9,217. In GP, where the total number of seats is 48,650, TMC has filed 59,736 nominations, with BJP at 28,696, CPI-M at 17,904 and Congress at 7,649.

The SEC has fixed Wednesday as the date for scrutiny, while the withdrawal of nominations will be held from Thursday to Saturday.