A change in the Bengal panchayat polls schedule has been exploited by the TMC government to delay the field postings of 10 new IAS officers of 2015 batch. In March, these officers were deputed as either under-secretaries or officers on special duty (OSDs) in different departments of the state government instead of being allotted field postings as sub-divisional officers (SDOs) in districts. Originally, the polls were to be held in three phases on May 1, 3 and 5. Later, the schedule was delayed to a single phase on May 14. The polls were supposed to be over by May 5 and new rural bodies formed by May-end. However, the entire process got delayed and no one knows how much longer it will be delayed further. Naturally, the field postings of these 10 IAS freshers as SDOs have been delayed. A petition in Calcutta high court to be heard on May 7 seeking the cancelation of polls due to alleged inadequate security has further put a question on whether the election will be held as per schedule. During the allotment in March, the P&AR department, under chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, had said that "since the new IAS officers lack prior administrative experience", they would be allotted field postings only after rural polls were completed and new rural bodies were formed, so as to ease their beginnings as administrators. However, officials point out that the same logic of "lack of administrative experience" was not applied for 45 probationary West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officers of 2015 batch, 90% of who have been allotted postings as block development officers (BDOs) in different districts of the state.