WB Panchayat Polls: Calcutta HC Refers Matter To Division Bench, Says 14 May Date Not Final

Calcutta High Court has ruled that the polling date for the state panchayat polls on 14 May, proposed by the state government and accepted by the State Election Commission (SEC), is not final, Firstpost has reported.

According to the portal, the High Court has referred the matter to a division bench hearing another case related to the same issue. The court added that the two-member bench that is hearing a case on the issue of providing adequate security during the polls will decide the final date after scrutinising the SEC's report.

After the filing of nominations for the polls began 2 April, the opposition - Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - claimed their candidates could not file nominations because Trinamool Congress terrorized them.

Following the opposition’s complaint, the SEC gave candidates an additional nomination filing day but then rolled back its own order. The opposition approached the court, which ruled in favour of an additional nomination filing day.

According to reports, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC resorted to violence to prevent candidates of opposition parties from filing nominations. In one case, goons of the party assaulted and stripped a photojournalist trying to take pictures of party men preventing opposition candidates from filing nominations. Another case, in which a pregnant kin of a BJP candidate was allegedly raped after she refused to withdraw her nominations for the polls, was also reported.

Without voting, the TMC has won over 20,000 of 58,692 panchayat seats. This is the highest number of seats a party has won uncontested in the state's history.