After torturous negotiations and hard bargaining the Mamata Banerjee government and the state election commission have finally agreed to hold the panchayat election on July 2, 6 and 10. The results will be announced on July 14. This poll schedule was suggested by the commission which the state government willymilly accepted.
Contrary to panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee’s claim, the state failed to issue the notification of the election on Thursday night. Mr Mukherjee said that the notification would be issued on Friday. They reached the agreement after several rounds of hectic meetings which took place throughout the day.
Their main areas of differences centred around the district-wise break up of three phases and the dates of pollings. The meeting began at the state election commission at around 1.30 pm. Chief secretary Sanjay Mitra and home secretary Badusdeb Banerjee representing the state held nearly a 90 minute-long marathon discussion with the state election commissioner Mira Pande and commission secretary Tapas Roy.
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Not right time for CBI probe: HC
PARWEZ HAFEEZ
KOLKATA MAY 16
The Calcutta high court on Thursday said time had not yet come for a CBI probe into the Saradha chit fund scam. Hearing a PIL seeking CBI probe, a division bench comprising Justices Asim Kumar Banerjee and Mrinal Kanti Chowhdury, however, did not reject the prayer either. “We feel that the time has not come (for a CBI probe). We are not disagreeing with your prayer. We will consider it at a proper stage,” the court said.