Mamata Banerjee may advance panchayat elections

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress is preparing for early panchayat elections next year. Though the tenure of all the panchayat bodies will expire only in July 2018, the state government plans polls by early next year, according to a state government official who did not wish to be named.

The government also plans to give more powers to elected rural bodies and a special session of the state assembly to pass the GST bill may also take up a bill to amend the panchayat act for this purpose. When contacted, panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee told ET on Friday his department was ready for polls anytime. “The chief minister will decide on the issue of holding early panchayat elections. My department is now busy completing all pending schemes and we are ready to face polls anytime,” Mukherjee added.

By holding polls next winter, the government was trying to give relief to electors, according to the official quoted earlier. "If the polls are held in January or February, electors need not wait in long queues under the scorching sun. This will encourage the electors to come to polling stations and cast their votes in a comfortable and pleasant weather,” the official said.

The panchayat elections are extremely crucial for all mainstream political parties as it comes shortly before the 2019 parliamentary polls. “About 50% of the total 9.13 crore population will cast their votes in next year's panchayat elections. The results of the polls will help parties to assess their strength and weakness in rural Bengal before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

CPM insiders said that they would hold their 22nd Party Congress next year and may have inconvenience in contesting the rural elections. “We don't know when the next panchayat elections will take place. We might face some difficulties in running campaigns in case Party Congress and panchayat elections take place within a gap of one or two months,” a senior CPM leader said.