The Election Commission will decide on the dates for the Assembly polls in West Bengal, Union Finance Minister and West Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Pranab Mukherjee said.
Talking to journalists after addressing a meeting organised by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, he said, the Congress had no comments to make in this regard now and it was for the Election Commission to decide whether the dates need to be advanced. “It is a constitutional issue,” he said.
West Bengal is scheduled to hold its Assembly election in mid-2011 and the Trinamool Congress has been demanding an advancement of dates to around October-November 2010. Ashok Ghosh, senior leader of the Forward Bloc, a major partner of the Left Front coalition in West Bengal also went on record to say that the Election Commission could advance dates by six months, if the Centre made such a recommendation.
Earlier addressing a ICSI symposium on ‘Compliance, Governance & Financial Markets,' Mr. Mukherjee said, the government received the report on the financial sector reforms and the next generation reforms were on the anvil.
“The aim is to include more Indians in the growth process while protecting the economy from any global financial turmoil. The objective also includes making Mumbai emerge as a major finance centre of the world.”
Noting that there have been debates on further reforms, he said, that contrary to the view that India weathered the global turmoil better since it was insulated, the country needed further reforms and was committed to it.
Admitting that introduction of the Goods and Services Tax was proving to be a challenge, Mr. Mukherjee said, that it required constitutional amendment so as to incorporate the provisions that both the State and the Centre had the authority to impose tax on the same item. “It is a major challenge,” he said. He suggested that States could give inputs and organise seminars on the necessity of introducing the GST and its good impact.
He said that while India's securities market had earned respect in the world, there was scope for further development. Mr. Mukherjee said that it was also vital for the debt market to develop as it was expected to contribute a substantial portion of the funds needed to bridge the shortage in infrastructure.
Later at another function, the Finance Minister kicked off the process for launching of a branch expansion project of the private sector Yes Bank, which is planning to commission 10 new branches in West Bengal and in the North East region.
