Bengal Panchayat Elections: Poll Panel Chief Sinha Seeks Fresh Date After Governor Summons Him

Sinha asked Bose to exclude him from appearing throughout the day and schedule him for "any other day."

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose. ( Image Source :Twitter | @Drsubhassarkar )

An official stated that hours after West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose called State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha to Raj Bhawan, the senior officer indicated he would be unable to see him owing to his involvement in panchayat polls. Sinha asked Bose to exclude him from appearing throughout the day and schedule him for "any other day," the official added, news agency PTI reported.

Speaking with PTI, the official stated: "Sinha is not skipping. He sought exemption for today. He has requested the Governor to give him time any other day."

Bose invited Sinha to Raj Bhavan at 2 p.m. on Saturday to brief him on the unrest in the state that claimed four lives and the actions taken by the state administration to calm the situation.

Following a visit to Bhangore on Friday, the Governor stated that measures must be done to halt political violence and promised that "perpetrators would be permanently silenced" and "brought to book." Bose stated that violence will not be condoned after speaking with local people and top police officials.

More than 5 crore people are eligible to vote in the state's three-tier panchayat elections, which will choose about 74,000 candidates for zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, and gramme panchayats.

Bengal Panchayat Polls Violence

Earlier this week, atleast three persons were killed in poll-related violence in West Bengal. While a CPI(M) worker was slain in Chopra, North Dinajpur district, two others were killed in Bhangar, South 24 Parganas district, where hostilities have been ongoing since Tuesday.

Voicing sorrow at the number of people killed in pre-election violence, Bose on Thursday stated: “Victory in elections should depend on the count of votes, not the count of dead bodies.” "Goons, hooligans, musclemen, lumpen and crash elements of the underworld lucifers, mammon’s and beelzebub’s shall not be allowed to rule the roost," he further added. 

Meanwhile, West Bengal State Election Commission has now moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Calcutta High Court's order regarding the deployment of central forces in panchayat elections.