By IANS,
Kolkata : Reiterating its demand for three-phased panchayat polls in West Bengal, the Congress Wednesday said the Trinamool Congress government’s decision to urge the state Election Commission (EC) to conduct the upcoming rural body polls in two phases was wrong.
The state government, led by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, has suggested that the EC hold the panchayat elections in Bengal in two phases.
“We said several times that the upcoming panchayat polls should be conducted in three phases. But the government decided to hold the elections in two phases. This decision is absolutely wrong,” state Congress leader Manas Bhunia told a media conference here.
Bhunia also took a dig at the Banerjee government for taking the decision to hold the elections without deploying central paramilitary forces in the sate.
“In West Bengal, there are 76,000 police personnel and the total strength of the state’s armed forces is only 40,000. There are 59,000 polling booths in the state. How can the elections be conducted without central forces,” he asked.
Earlier, the opposition Left Front had also demanded a three-phase panchayat elections in West Bengal.