BackWest Bengal panchayat elections in 3 phases, results on 8 May
Notification for the West Bengal panchayat elections will be issued today itself, while the last date for filing nominations is 9 April
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Kolkata: The West Bengal state election commission on Saturday announced three phased panchayat elections in the state on 1, 3 and 5 May. The votes will be counted on 8 May. The panchayat election assumes significance as it is the last major poll in the state before the general elections next year.
On 1 May, polling will be held in the southern and western districts of the state. On 3 May, polling will to be held in two districts: Birbhum and Murshidabad. On 5 May, polling will be held in the northern districts, State Election Commissioner (SEC) A.K. Singh said.
Notification for the election will be issued today itself, while the last date for filing nominations is 9 April. The date of scrutiny of papers is 11 April and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is 16 April, the SEC said, adding the election process will have to be completed by 15 May.
Singh said with the model code of conduct coming into force from today, new schemes for panchayat areas cannot be announced or inaugurated. Neither can foundation stones for any new projects be laid in these areas. Ongoing projects can, however, continue, he said.
“In case of natural disasters, permission for starting new work or distribution of materials will be taken up by district authorities or from the State Election Commission. “No minister or ministry-ranked officials can use pilot car with or without beacon light unless there is security threat assessed by appropriate police officers," Singh said.
An estimated 5.08 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise for elections to gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads.
Elections will be held in 48,751 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 9,240 seats in 341 panchayat samitis and 825 seats in 20 zilla parishads. There will be total 57233 booths spread across the 20 districts.
The last panchayat election in the state in 2013 was held in July. Though chief minister Mamata Banerjee had previously said the elections are to be held in April-May, she had at a recent administrative review meeting said panchayat elections are to be concluded by August.
(PTI contributed to this story)
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