Election Commission Rules Out Early Polls

KOLKATA, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- CPI-M (Communist Party of India) have praised the decision of Election Commission which on Wednesday announced that the 2011 Assembly Elections would be held in June next year as scheduled. Biman Bose who happens to be the politburo member for the party told the media that the decision to fix the dates of Assembly Elections can only be fixed after the State Government issues a written order to the Election Commission.

Speaking further, Biman Bose also underlined that the decision of the Election Commission is a commendable one and is in accordance to the provisions of the Constitution. Mr. Biman Bose was all in praises for S. Y. Quraishi, the Election Commissioner who ruled out early polls in West Bengal. The Election Commissioner also said that Constitution allows Election Commission to start the assembly election process six months before the mentioned “due date”. Hence, the Election Commission cannot start the preparatory process before December 2010. Earlier it was speculated that the Election Commission has been asked by the opposition party Trinamool Congress and others to re-schedule the assembly elections. When asked about it Election Commission snubbed down any such reports and called it to be an “ill informed” affair.

S.Y. Quraishi along with VS Sampath took part in an array of meetings with the divisional Election Commission officers and the district magistrates before they announced their decision on Wednesday. The Election Commission has also asked the Divisional Election Commission officers to appoint Booth Level Officers for each and every polling booth in West Bengal. The Election Commission also made it a point that the BLO’s should be a local one and shall focus on one particular polling booth and none other.