Panchayat polls cannot be held in a hurry: SEC

The West Bengal State Election Commission, embroiled in a legal battle with the state government, today told the Calcutta High Court it did not want to hold the panchayat elections in a hurry and without proper logistics.
Arguing for the commission, senior counsel Samaraditya Pal submitted before Justice Biswanath Somadder that the government had sent a letter to the SEC in August last year for holding the elections in January.
Referring to the correspondence between the SEC and the government, Pal said though the commission was not in favour of preponing the polls as issues like voters lists and delimitation had to be considered, it had agreed to hold the polls in four phases.

The state government, however, did not want the elections to be held in more than two phases, he said.
Being a constitutional body, the commission could not be pressurised as it was its responsibility to hold the panchayat elections for over 58,000 seats in a peaceful, free and fair manner, Pal submitted.
The hearing, which was adjourned for the day, would continue next Tuesday.