"Now when both the state Panchayat and the Law Ministers have said the state government will challenge the High Court's order in a division bench and then again, if things go otherwise, approach the Supreme Court, it is evident that the Trinamool Congress does not want to hold rural polls at all," Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Surjya Kanta Mishra said.
Mishra, also a CPI(M) Politburo member who is here to attend the party's Central Committee meeting, told PTI here, "From the outset, we were apprehensive about the government's intention of holding panchayat polls. Vote share in the 2011 assembly polls showed that if the Trinamool contested without Congress support, then the Left Front was much ahead. And Trinamool's support base today is not where it was in 2011."
The crucial rural polls are slated in June this year.
In a setback to the state government, the Calcutta High Court had Friday directed that these elections would be held in three phases using central armed forces on dates decided by the State Election Commission and had observed that primacy of the Commission was not negotiable.
Observing that Trinamool Congress was facing trouble after the Saradha scam, Mishra said Mamata Banerjee's party "is wary about their rural support base. We in the Left don't expect miracles to happen and an overnight tilt towards us. We know, if polls are held on time, we might lose some Zilla Parishads to them. But, that has never prompted us to create obstacles in the democratic process.