Description

The Mamata Banerjee government's missive to the State Election Commission on Monday declining its proposal to reconsider the grouping of districts for the three-phase panchayat polls has buried hopes of a consensus.

Poll panel boss Mira Pandey is now faced with two challenges — holding panchayat elections by mid-July as the high court wants it as well as ensure adequate force deployment in sensitive and highly-sensitive booths, according to the high court's guidelines. Pandey also cannot sit on the election notification indefinitely because it has to be done by the end of this week so that the first phase of polls can be conducted on July 2.