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30a half years after their inception, all 15 ZPs and 325 AKPs were superseded. The APs andGPs remained moribund, and the UFG sought to bring about a truly comprehensive pieceof PR legislation. This found shape in the WBP Bill (Bill No.42) of 1969. Introduced on9 th September, 1969 in the Forty-ninth session of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly,the Member-in-charge (MIC) of the Bill, Bibhuti Bhusan Dasgupta, sought to refer the Billto a 19 member Select Committee. In stating the objects and reasons for initiating the Bill,the MIC lashed out at the earlier Acts of 1957 and 1963; these denied the right to suffrageto the village folk, he maintained, and the working of these Acts failed to implement theDirective as enshrined in Act 40, of the Indian Constitution.It called for a three tier structure of PRIs, stating that ‘the long and persistent demandfrom the people of West Bengal has been to abolish the existing PRIs by repealing whollythe existing Panchayat Acts and to substitute them by real democratic structure..’. The Billremained un-enacted, for, the Second UFG fell in 1970 and President’s Rule was re-imposedin West Bengal.The WB panchayat Act of 1973 is the basis for rural decentralisation in West Bengaltoday, but echoes of the basic outlook and philosophy with which the Left front governmentin the State has been going along with its project of reforms can be traced back to the Billof 1969. To a large extent, this Bill also influenced the Congress ministry which enactedthe West Bengal Panchayat Act , 1973, after coming to power in the polls of 1972. TheCommunist Party of India (CPI), with 36 seats, was the main opposition party in theHouse, when the Congress introduced the West Bengal Panchayat Bill, 1973. An interestingobservation may be made here about the political motive of the Congress-dominated Stategovernment in initiating this legislation. The point to be seized is that though the Congresshad a large number of seats, both in the WBLA and the National Parliament, the Leftrepresentation was very much palpable, spanning the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri to theseas of Sagar, from the industrial belt of Ranigunj-Asansol to the urban settings ofChandanagar, Behala and Jadavpur. In 1972, West Bengal’s Parliamentarians numbered40, of whom only 5 were from the Congress; the CPI(M) had 21 seats, the CPI 2, and theRSP 2. Thus, in terms of numbers and geographical spread, the left consolidation was inthe air.One may speculate that the Congress perhaps felt threatened, and as a step towardsensuring a support base for itself and warding off the Left challenge, it tried to effect