Kolkata, Apr 22: Poll situation in West Bengal, ahead of the coming Panchayat elections, was today reviewed at a high-level meeting at the state secretariat here in the wake of recurring clashes between rival political parties and reports that candidates were obstructed from filing nominations in many districts. State's Chief Secretary S N Roy held a meeting with the District Magistrates at the secretariat and was understood to have sought reports about the situation arising out of the clashes, official sources said here. State's Election Commissioner Ajoy Sinha held another round of meeting with district magistrates for an appraisal of the pre-Panchayat poll situation, a day after the commission sought reports from district authorities about justifiability of the demands for extension of the nomination date, which had already expired, by Trinamool Congress-BJP combine. The combine has demanded declaration of Panchayat poll as "null and void" in 20,000 seats due to obstruction to their candidates in filing nomination papers allegedly by CPI(M) activists, as also extension of time-limit of nomination filing.
Today was the last date for withdrawal of candidature in around 58,000 seats in the three-tier Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samity and Zila Parishad.
Bureau Report