The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to accept the nomination of all candidates who submitted their papers electronically for the West Bengal panchayat polls on the last date of nomination on April 23.
The order by Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Arindam Mukherjee has been hailed as “historic” not only by the Opposition parties but also by political observers as it sets a precedence.
As per the High Court order, the nomination papers filled by candidates in the pre-determined format sent to the Panchayat Returning Officers not in person but electronically on or before 3 p.m. on April 23 have to be accepted by the SEC. It may put an end to the violence during the nomination phase as the candidates may file their nominations without visiting the office of the Returning Officer, the observers said.
The three-tier rural polls are scheduled for May 14.
West Bengal witnessed widespread violence during the nomination process during which even veteran Opposition leaders were not spared. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is all set to win at least one-third of the seats uncontested as the Opposition could not field their candidates.
“It is for the SEC, to provide for the same, as filing of nominations through e-mail invariably prevents large -scale violence centring around the panchayat elections and above all, bloodshed and loss of precious human life,” the High Court order noted.
The court, reminding the SEC that it should act “fairly, transparently and independently”, observed that the “right guaranteed to the electorate to exercise its voting right gets substantially enhanced by wider participation of candidates in the election process”.
The Communist Party of India(Marxist) had filed the petition before the High Court.
According to pshephologist Biswanath Chakraborty, the High Court direction will hardly make any difference to the uncontested victories for the ruling TMC in the rural polls which has gone as high as 34%.
Meanwhile, the fate of the panchayat polls in the State scheduled for May 14 hangs in the balance.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee is hearing the petition on the issue of providing security.
CPI(M) leader and advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that in the present situation it does not appear that the polls can be held on May 14.
