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Bengal panchayat election on May 14 as court refuses to interfere, says election panel ‘floundered’
Calcutta high court pulled up the state election commission for not conducting itself in a ‘manner that showed neutrality’.
The Calcutta high court said on Friday it will not interfere in the schedule of the panchayat elections in West Bengal and pulled up the state election commission for not conducting itself in a “manner that showed neutrality”, reports said.
According to reports, the court said that the poll body floundered in upholding its constitutional obligations.
The election to the state’s local administrative bodies is scheduled to be held on May 14. The poll body had earlier said the elections will be held on three days on May 1, 3 and 5.
The new date triggered allegations from opposition parties that the single-phase voting decision was taken to oblige the ruling Trinamool Congress.
READ: Bengal panchayat polls: Thanks to TMC, the process has turned into a travesty
“SEC reduced the number of phases for the panchayat polls in the state from three to one without providing necessary clarification which raised eyebrows,” the high court was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
“It is expected that the commission will redeem itself by treating the court’s observations as a wake-up call,” the court said according to PTI.
The polling process was earlier stalled after the opposition parties in the state petitioned both the Supreme Court and high court alleging widespread violence and strong-arm tactics by the ruling party throughout the nomination process between April 2 and 9 and on April 23.
All the opposition parties alleged that the ruling party’s supporters were using every weapon of intimidation, from phone calls to crude bombs and firearms, to prevent their candidates from filing nomination, which began on April 2.
The nomination process was supposed to continue till March 9, according to the commission’s notification on March 31.
On April 5, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the nomination process and the deployment of central forces to ensure a free and fair election. The top court refused to step in on April 9 and said the SEC should address its grievances.
On April 9 around 9pm, the poll panel extended the nomination process by a day to April 10. But within 12 hours of the announcement, even as opposition candidates started to file their nomination papers, the poll body withdrew its notification, saying its statement the earlier night was incorrect.
It also said that a letter from the state government and the Trinamool advocate and Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee pointed out legal infirmities in the earlier notification.
The opposition parties rushed to court, with the BJP filing petitions both in the Calcutta high court as well as the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the poll panel’s latest order.
The top court said the matter will be heard in the high court and the single bench of justice Subrata Talukdar heard the matter between April 17 and 19 and on ordered April 20 that there will be an additional day for filing of nomination.
On April 21, the poll body fixed April 23 as the last day for filing nominations, which was also marked by allegations of widespread violence by Trinamool supporters. It issued a notification on April 28 that the polling will be held on May 14.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee earlier said she wanted the polls before the holy month of Ramzan began (likely on May 16), the most oppressive phase of summer and the onset of the monsoons.
Four opposition parties – the BJP, the CPI(M), the Congress and Party for Democratic Socialism – moved the high court again, alleging the poll panel succumbed to the ruling party’s diktat.
They also alleged that though there were more than 58,400 booths in the state, the police force had only 46,000 armed personnel and 12,000 policemen without firearms.
The situation, opposition leaders alleged, would allow a free run for the ruling party-backed goons in a rerun of the violence during the nomination process that elbowed out a record number of opposition candidates from the contest.
On May 1, justice Talukdar observed that the decision of the poll panel to hold the elections on May 14 was not necessarily the final decision and a division bench will review it in the light of security adequacy. The judge also pulled up the SEC for poor homework before the announcement of the date of polling.
