Calcutta, April 7: The government today asked all district magistrates and police chiefs to ensure that candidates can file their nominations and campaign for next month’s panchayat polls without facing intimidation.

The Opposition had alleged during the 2003 elections that CPM cadres had not allowed their candidates to file nominations in over 30,000 seats.

Nearly 60 people were killed in the run-up to the polls and in its aftermath.

“District magistrates and police chiefs will see to it that there is no violence before the polls this time and the candidates can file their nominations without facing intimidation,” home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti said after a meeting at Writers’ Buildings.

Chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb also attended the meeting with district magistrates and superintendents of police that lasted over three hours.

The government today sent a communique to the state election commission saying the rural polls should be held on May 11, 14 and 18.

“The commission will start the electioneering process from tomorrow,” state election commissioner Ashok Gupta said tonight.

Officials said chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had personally wanted the nomination-filing process to be free and fair.

“Police will act immedia-tely once a candidate lodges a complaint of intimidation. The culprits will be put behind bars irrespective of party affiliations,” a home department official said.

In many areas of Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas and West Midnapore, CPM candidates were elected unopposed. The Trinamul Congress and the Congress had blamed “the terror unleashed by the CPM” for not being able to field candidates, though the CPM attributed it to their lack of organisational strength.

Trinamul MLA Partha Chatterjee today said: “The government has virtually admitted its earlier inefficiency, saying the administration will this time help the candidates file their nominations without fear.”

He added: “We are optimistic about winning the polls if our candidates are allowed to contest.”

The home secretary said armed police personnel would be deployed in all 45,000 booths on election days.

The three-phase poll, he added, would help the government mobilise forces better. “Once the polling is completed on May 11, the forces can be shifted to areas where the polling is due on May 14.”

Central forces and perso- nnel from the neighbouring states would be requisitioned. “We cannot spare personnel from our police stations,” Chakrabarti said.