Mukul 'poll-stall' slur on panel  - Commission seeks immediate force plan

A STAFF REPORTER

Calcutta, June 15: Trinamul leader Mukul Roy today accused the state election commission of trying to "stall" the panchayat polls, the allegation coming on a day the panel wrote to the government asking it to "immediately" furnish details on the availability of forces for electioneering. Roy told reporters during an informal chat at Trinamul Bhavan this evening that the women's wing of the party would organise a protest march to the commission's office on Monday and submit a memorandum to panel chief Mira Pande. The march, seen as part of Trinamul's attempts to mount pressure on the commission, will be led by law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya. "The commission is working in a partisan manner. We will organise a march to protest its biased attitude. The commission is attaching undue importance to what Opposition parties such as the CPM, Congress and the BJP are alleging. We won't allow any attempt to stall the elections," said Roy, the all-India general secretary of Trinamul. Roy alleged that the commission was "out to stall the elections on the pretext of terror". The Opposition has accused Trinamul of threatening candidates of other parties and not allowing them to file nominations. The poll panel has sought reports from seven district magistrates on why several thousand seats will go uncontested in the first phase. The CPM has also decided to organise a demonstration outside the commission's office in Calcutta on Tuesday for "failing" to conduct the nomination phase in a free and fair manner. "We will meet governor M.K. Narayanan on Monday, seeking his intervention," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said. In its letter to the government today, the poll panel said 1.49 lakh police personnel would be needed for the nine-district first phase on July 2, 57,000 for the second leg on July 6 and 35,000 for the third on July 9. The commission told the government it was expecting an "immediate" response. "By 'immediate', we meant 24 hours. But we sent the letter this evening and tomorrow is a holiday. So we expect a reply by Monday," a senior poll panel official said. "If the government cannot satisfy us on force arrangement for the first phase by Monday, we will move court on Tuesday," the official added. The Bengal government will be able to spare 50,000 personnel from its own contingent and does not expect to get more than 10,000 from the Centre and the three states it has approached. The commission official said the government had "enough time" to arrange for the required forces. "The first day of polls is over two weeks away. We must have clarity now," he added. The panel official said the commission would approach the same division bench of Calcutta High Court that had on June 13 upheld the primacy of the election commission in conducting the panchayat polls. "We will request the bench to consider splitting the first phase into two or three legs. The polls will have to begin in the last week of June in that case," the official said. A senior minister said today splitting the first phase was the "most feasible" option. Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, however, said today at an INTTUC convention in Midnapore that the government was "not in favour of increasing the number of rural poll phases". "I can't say what will happen if they (commission) approach court." Bloc switch The Forward Bloc candidate for one of the two zilla parishad seats in Cooch Behar withdrew her nomination and joined Trinamul today. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130616/jsp/bengal/story_17013020.jsp#.Ub3RveeBloI