WB panchayat polls on 14 May, says EC; Mamata welcomes move

TIL Desk/National/Kolkata/ The West Bengal panchayat election would be held in a single-phase on 14 May, the state election commission (SEC) announced on Thursday. Earlier, the elections were scheduled to be held in three phases on 1, 3 and 5 May and the counting was to take place on 8 May.

However, the Calcutta High Court had stayed the poll process and directed the SEC to reschedule the election dates after Opposition parties submitted a plea, alleging that TMC members were not allowing them to file nominations.

“The panchayat election will be held in one phase on 14 May. Any re-poll, if needed, will be held on 16 May. The date of counting will be notified later,” SEC secretary Nilanjan Shandilya told.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, expressed happiness with the announcement of the date of panchayat polls and hoped that it would be a peaceful election. The election on 14 May will be held from 7 am to 5 pm. The entire election process has to be completed before 21 May, said a gazette notification on Thursday.