West Bengal Panchayat Elections (Amendment) Bill passed

Kolkata, Dec 10 (UNI) With a view to strengthening the election process of three-tier Panchayats, the West Bengal Panchayat Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2007 was passed in the Assembly today.

Moving the Bill, Panchayat Minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said the new Act would make the elections of the Panchayat bodies more responsible, transparent, accountable and effective.

Mr Mishra said the Act would empower the authority to determine the total number of members to be elected to a Gram Panchayat for the required number of voters considering the present circumstances.

He said it would also make provision regarding introduction of electronic voting machine.

'' The state government is committed to making the elections of the three-tier Panchayats crystal-clear in all respects and the Bill is a step in that direction, '' Mr Mishra maintained.

UNI