Barasat, May 25: Reservation of seats has created trouble for both the CPM and the Trinamul Congress in the formation of two village panchayat boards in North 24-Parganas.

They are going to be formed with a member of the rival party as the chief.

“According to rules, if a candidate for a reserved panchayat pradhan’s post is not available in the majority party, the appropriate candidate has to be chosen from the Opposition camp,” said Jayanta Duttagupta, joint secretary of the state election commission.

In Banshpul gram panchayat in Habra, the post is reserved for a Scheduled Tribe candidate.

But the CPM’s ST candidate, Niranjan Sardar, who was projected as the pradhan, lost to Charan Singh of Trinamul. The party does not have a second tribal winner.

It has no option but to allow Singh to become the pradhan.

It is a windfall for Singh. “I’m willing to work as a pradhan, but the local CPM workers have threatened me with dire consequences if I don’t co-operate with them.”

At Srikrishnapur, Trinamul and the Congress have won a majority. But they are in trouble as the post of the pradhan is reserved for a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste.

However, neither Trinamul nor the Congress has a winner fulfilling the criteria. So, the CPM’s Chhayarani Das has bagged the top slot. “I will be a pradhan but a puppet in the hands of the Opposition,” said Das, a housewife.

The district administration, too, is in a fix. “I have been informed about these developments,” said district magistrate P.K. Mishra.

The poll panel said a similar situation had cropped up in Malda, where the post of vice-president, reserved for STs, is going to the CPM.

Nandi meeting

An all-party peace meeting convened by the officer-in-charge of Nandigram police station and the block development officer fell through today as the Opposition boycotted it.

At Kalicharanpur, the Opposition parties demanded that the police first seize the arms with local CPM cadres.