West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee dubs BJP, Cong, CPM as 'three brothers'
West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: Although a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to interfere with a single bench order staying the West Bengal Panchayat election process, asking the judge to hear the case on "fast track", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the CPI(M), the Congress and the BJP of "deliberately delaying" the panchayat election process in West Bengal.
1. West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: Amidst speculations of the elections getting deferred, an angry Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said “the CPI-M, Congress and BJP are three brothers. They play one kind of role here and another kind of role in Delhi.”
2. West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, said that delaying of the panchayat poll process has stalled development works in West Bengal, as the model code of conduct is in force.
3. West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: Till the last day of the filing of nomination, Banerjee said, "only seven sporadic incidents out of the 58,000 booths" were reported, adding that holding panchayat elections in May or during the monsoon would pose difficulties for the people, owing to the weather.
4. West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: The court stayed the election process till April 16 on a petition by the BJP, and asked the SEC to furnish by that date a comprehensive status report on the polls. The SEC on Monday submitted the status report before the court.
5. West Bengal panchayat elections 2018: The opposition parties moved the court, accusing the ruling TMC of unleashing massive pre-poll violence against their party workers to prevent them from filing papers for the polls ever since the process began on April 2.