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Analysis | Share This Page | |
Bengal Panchayat Poll: Meera Vs.Mamata War |
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by Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee |
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The Election Commission’s War against State Government stand on Panchayat Polls may cause a big turmoil and create a topsy turvy situation. West Bengal is now waiting for a big bang but things may end in a whimper. Both the Election Commission and the State Government are flexing their muscles. Both sides are powerful and neither of these two is ready to bend. It is better to break than bend. T.N.Seshan at the centre, no other Election Commissioner at the state level attempted to exert its supremacy in such a way as the present Chief Election Commissioner Meera Pandey is doing it this time. Never in the past, the State Government went to such confrontation. In 2010, the tenure of the present Election Commission has been extended for six years. Quite naturally, there is no alternative to the Election Commission except if the Panchayat Elections are postponed and Administrators are appointed. In that case , the constitutional violation may occur and the state government will have to face scathing criticism from the opposition which has already described it ‘autocratic’ and ‘undemocratic’. The Trinamool government which boasts of its being the government of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’ will face a severe jolt if the Panchayat election is not held and power is concentrated in the hand of the Administrator loyal to the State Government.Meetings of State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee, with M.K. Narayanan and Chief Minister Banerjee during the day have failed literally. Nobody knows for certain what will happen if a fresh notification on the rural polls is issued. Can a state government really defy the Election Commission in this way?The Mamata Banerjee government does not agree to suggestions given by the commission which stressed the need for deployment of central paramilitary troopers. Central force deployment for panchayat polls will cost the state Rs 350 crore. They think that there is no requirement of central forces. Subrata Mukherjee and Mukul Roy have both scented a conspiracy in the Election Commission’s v recommendation to delay the polls. It is explained as a step to defer the defeat of these opposition parties as the support for them, namely, the support for the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and the Congress has sharply declined.
According to the Trinamul leaders, the erstwhile LF government had extended the tenure of the state election commission from three to six years with ulterior motives, in 2010, when an imminent political change in the state was quite perceptible. Roy also ruled out a role for the governor in the ongoing deadlock.
However, Mukul Roy ruled out the possibility of Governor’s rule in the state. He expects the Governor M.K. Narayanan to play an impartial role in the ongoing deadlock. Actually, he wants tacit support of the Governor to defy the Election Commission. The governor has been playing an increasingly pro-active role in a bid to find a solution to the stalemate. He has already held two rounds of talks with the state election commission chief, and summoned state Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee and senior bureaucrats at the Raj Bhavan. |
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29-Mar-2013 | ||
More by : Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee | ||
Views: 2148 Comments: 0 | ||
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