West Bengal Panchayat polls 2018: Voting on 14th May, counting on 17th May

The State Election Commission (SEC) has finally announced dates for the panchayat polls in West Benga. Voting will take place in a single phase on May 14th and the counting will be done on May 17th. Repolling, if needed will be held on 16th May. 

The announcement of revised dates were delayed because the SEC were finalising the security arrangements in the over 58,000 polling booths and also deciding on the issue of whether to conduct the election during the month of Ramzan . The representatives of various Muslim organisations on Wednesday met the SEC officials and urged the poll panel not to hold the panchayat election during the month of Ramzan, which is scheduled to start from May 16-17. The ruling TMC too was in favour of polls before Ramzan and onset of monsoon season. According to the final schedule, EC has fixed the date of polling before start of the holy month. 

According to the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2003, there has to be a gap of at least 21 days between the last date for filing of nominations and the date of polling. According to this rule, the election cannot be held before May 14.
The panchayat polls were earlier scheduled to be held on May 1, 3 and 5. However, following a Calcutta High Court order, the SEC had announced April 23 as the extended date for nomination-filing for the three-tier rural election. 

The opposition is wary if SEC can provide for all the candidates in a single phase election. They are worried whether 58 thousand police officers will be enough to properly ensure security in over 58, 000 polling booths in the state. BJP has alleged that the SEC has not discussed witht them before finalising the schedule.