West Bengal is gearing up for Panchayat elections, which will be held next month. The West Bengal State Election Commission announced the 2023 Panchayat election schedule last week.
The last date for filing nominations was Thursday, June 15. The three-tier panchayat polls across 20 districts and two-tier polls in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts will be held in a single phase on July 8.
Date and time of polling
Voting for 2023 West Bengal Panchayat elections will be held across the state on July 8. The counting of votes will take place on July 11. The state election commission has announced that polling will start at 7 am and end at 5 pm.
The last date for withdrawal of nomination is June 20.
2023 West Bengal Panchayat elections schedule
The election is being held for all three tiers of Panchayati Raj institutions – Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads. Around 74,000 seats will go to polls in the Panchayat elections this year.
Currently, there are 825 Zila Parishads constituencies in over 20 Zila Parishads and 1 Mahakuma Parishad, 9240 Panchayat Samiti constituencies in 341 Panchayat Samitis and 48751 Gram Panchayat constituencies in 3354 Gram Panchayats.
Nominations
The West Bengal State Election Commission has received a total of 2,36,464 nominations for the Panchayat elections. The ruling Trinamool Congress has fielded the highest 85,817 candidates while the BJP has fielded 56,321. CPI(M) has fielded candidates in 48,646 seats while 17,750 are in the electoral fray from Congress.
In 2018, the Trinamool Congress had bagged 95 per cent of the Zila Parishad seats and emerged victorious in 90 per cent of Panchayat Samiti seats. The ruling party also secured 73 per cent of Gram Panchayat seats.
The 2023 Panchayat polls in West Bengal are crucial given that Lok Sabha election is scheduled next year.
