-PTI Kolkata: The Election Commission in West Bengal today moved the Calcutta Hight Court seeking rejection of the government notification on poll schedule as the state government decided to contest it. The State Election Commission in its petition claimed that Section 42 of the West Bengal Panchayat Election Act, which states that the state government is empowered to notify election in consultation with the commission, is unconstitutional. The commission also prayed that it...

-The Hindu The Trinamool Congress has "conspired" to ensure that the rural polls are not held in West Bengal by entering into a confrontation with the State Election that resulted in the latter moving court on the issue, alleged the Opposition parties here on Monday. "For a while, there were indications that the rural elections will not be held on time. The State government has played a distinctive role in plotting...

-The Hindu Business Line Kolkata: The West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday moved the High Court seeking a stay on the notification issued by the State Government regarding panchayat polls (rural polls). The petition was filed before Justice Biswanath Samaddar. The matter is expected to come up for hearing tomorrow. The Panchayat Department of the State Government had last month (in March) issued a notification to conduct panchayat polls in two phases...

-The Telegraph Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will not know Pushpa Tudu. Neither will state election commissioner Mira Pande. Such an assertion can be made because Pushpa Tudu does not want her real name to be published - a wish that tells the human story behind the stand-off between the Bengal government and the state election commission. Early last week, Pushpa Tudu (name changed), a probable CPM gram panchayat candidate, was addressing a small...

-The Hindu Election Commission team coming on April 8 to review poll preparedness Bangalore: Now you can find crucial details about a candidate contesting the Assembly elections - his criminal record and assets/liabilities - in one consolidated format. Information on both these aspects will be part of a single document and will be up on the Election Commission website within 24 hours of it being filed. Hitherto, these details were in scattered in...