'West Bengal govt to move SC if division bench upholds panchayat order'

PURULIA: The West Bengal government will approach the Supreme Court if a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upholds Friday's order establishing the State Election Commission's primacy and directing that the panchayat elections be held in three phases with central forces.

"We will go to the division bench against yesterday's order. If the division bench also upholds the order, we will go to the Supreme Court, if necessary," Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters.

He was responding to media queries about what the state government would do if the division bench upholds the Friday's order.

Mukherjee had yesterday said that the state government would appeal before a division bench against the High Court order upholding the primacy of the State Election Commission and asking it to provide names of 400 observers for the panchayat polls by May 11.

Terming the order "unrealistic", the minister had said that it was not possible to prepare a list of 400 observers and make arrangements for central forces within a day.