-The Business Standard Defying the Election Committee's suggestion last week, the state announced a two-phase election to be held in April The tug-of-war between the West Bengal government and State Election Commission over Panchayat poll schedule may head for a legal battle, with both sides showing no sign of compromise. After a three-hour long meeting at its office here, the state election commission today refused to accept government-announced panchayat poll dates and sent...

-The Indian Express Kolkata: West Bengal's notification for the panchayat elections marks a flash point in an ongoing tussle between the Mamata Banerjee government and the state election commission. The government notification, issued last week independently of the election authorities, has declared polls in two phases, on April 26 and 30. The election commission, headed by Meera Pandey, has been insisting on three phases. On Monday, the commission wrote to the government...

-The Telegraph Many Indians stand in solidarity with the protest launched by the academic community in the University of Pennsylvania against the decision to invite Narendra Modi, writes Prasenjit Bose S L. Rao's criticisms of the academics of the University of Pennsylvania, who had initiated a campaign against Wharton Business School's invitation to Narendra Modi, in his article, "The trip that never was" (March 18), are not only unwarranted but they also...

-The Hindu Kasaragod: The Endosulfan Peedhitha Janakeeya Munnani has decided to withdraw temporarily the indefinite hunger strike spearheaded by it for the past 36 days after the second round of high-level talks held with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. A decision to this effect was made by forum convener Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan here on Monday night, hours after the talks held in Thiruvananthapuram concluded. "We are quite satisfied with the promise given by the Chief...

-The Hindu The Election Commission has given yet another significant opinion - it has rejected a petition seeking disqualification of 11 nominated members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council under Article 191 (1) (e) of the Constitution. "In our Constitution, ‘qualifications' and ‘disqualifications' are two different concepts and ‘lack of qualification' will not tantamount to ‘disqualification," it said. The Commission - Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi...