KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to accept the nominations of all the candidates who had submitted their candidature electronically for the West Bengal panchayat polls on the last date of filing nominations on April 23.
The order by Justice Biswanath Somadder and Justice Arindam Mukherjee has been hailed as “historic” not only by political parties in the Opposition but also by political observers, as it has set 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 pm on April 23 [last date of nomination] has to be accepted by the SEC. This may put an end to possible violence in future as candidates may opt to file nominations without visiting the office of the Returning Officer, the observers said.
The three-tier rural poll scheduled to be held on May 14.
West Bengal witnessed widespread violence during the nomination process, with even veteran Opposition leaders not being spared. The ruling Trinamool Congress is all set to win at least one-third of the seats uncontested as the Opposition could not field its candidates there.
“...filing of nomination through e-mail invariably prevents large-scale violence centring around the panchayat elections and above all, bloodshed and loss of precious human life,” the court order noted. Reminding the SEC that it should act “fairly, transparently and independently”, the court 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 a petition in the High Court seeking acceptance of candidatures of those who had filed their nominations electronically.
