Ranchi, Aug. 17: The state election commission is set to notify the poll schedule for the panchayat elections by August 20, notwithstanding the hue and cry being raised by a section of legislators.

Some MLAs, belonging to both the ruling coalition and the Opposition parties, are upset over the reservation of seats for tribes in scheduled areas where their population is less than 40 per cent.

The panel, headed by state election commissioner G. Krishnan has been deliberating on the matter along with officials of the rural development department for the last couple of days to decide on the nitty-gritty of the schedule which is to be notified.

?We are all set to notify the schedule and hold the panchayat polls accordingly. The commission has already chalked out the fresh schedule, which has got the approval of Raj Bhavan as well. There is no timeframe for the notification to be issued and it can be done even a day before the filing of nominations begin,? said a senior officer in the rural development department. The filing of nominations, according to the fresh schedule, begins from August 27.

The panchayat election issue had sparked off a controversy with the state election commission?s proposal for conducting the panchayat elections on September 16, 20, 23 and 26 being forwarded to the governor by the chief minister on July 30 after Cabinet approval.

Governor Syed Sibtey Razi had put a seal on the recommendations and sent the schedule for being notified in the official gazette.

But on July 31, instead of approving the chief minister?s recommendations, the Cabinet set aside the dates and announced that the rural polls be conducted on September 26, 30 and October 14, 17 and 21.

The Raj Bhavan, however, returned the fresh recommendations to the government, asking for a clarification on whether the new dates have the approval of the poll panel. The imbroglio ended only after the high court took up the matter and the commission gave its go-ahead.

However, it is now up to the government to decide on going ahead with the polls given the pressure from the BJP.