State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha on Saturday called on West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose to explain the commission’s stand on demands for extending the date of filing nominations for the state’s three-tier panchayat polls and to explain steps taken to contain incidents of violence.

Officials said the Governor sought details of allegations of violence marring the process of filing nominations and asked whether the SEC had considered seeking central forces to manage the polling process.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of BJP state president Sukanto Majumdar meeting Bose at Raj Bhavan earlier in the day with complaints about the nomination filing process, as well as state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury writing to him on the same issue.

On Friday, the State Election Commission said that it may consider extending the last date of filing nominations for the Bengal panchayat elections slated to be held on July 8.

This followed a Calcutta High Court observation in response to petitions by opposition politicians for extending the date, that the court is "of the view that the time limit fixed in the notification is inadequate".

SEC Sinha had told PTI: "We are going to review the situation and may contemplate extending the date." Separately, officials said following meetings with district magistrates and police superintendents, the Commission decided that special focus would be given to five districts -North and South 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Jalpaiguri, and Purba Medinipur - as they are being seen as "sensitive".

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