This postponement will lead to suffer for people, says Mamata Banerjee.
In a jolt to the State Election Commission (SEC), West Bengal government and the Trinamool Congress the Calcutta High Court directed the SEC to issue a fresh notification extending the day for nomination submission by a day and reschedule the Panchayat polls, in consultation with the state government.
After Justice Subrata Talukdar passed this order on Friday, the previous polling dates of May 1, 3 and 5 would automatically stand cancelled because technically there has to be a gap of at least 21 days between the last day of nomination and the first day of polling process.
The single bench also quashed the notification of SEC issued on April 10, by state election commissioner AK Singh with which he cancelled his notification on May 9, of extending the last day of notification by a day.
Leaders of the Opposition are naturally happy about it. Calling the order a historic one, BJP leader Pratap Banerjee said, “It is true that the BJP was the first one to file a case against the SEC and the state but this win should be attributed to the people of Bengal. Let us see what step the SEC takes next.”
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said it was the moral defeat of TMC. “The helplessness of SEC is also exposed. It had been an unprecedented political degradation and that is why the intervention of the judiciary was sought. SEC had played second fiddle to the state government,” he said and also added that the rescheduling of elections didn't mean peace had been restored. “We also apprehend that with the announcement of new dates, there will be fresh violence unleashed by the state government with the help of state police,” he said.
CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb said it was not possible for filing of 20,000 nominations in one day. “We will talk to the SEC and see what can be done about it,” he said. CPI(M) lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said that the SEC and the state government should take lessons from the decisions. SEC’s independent character has been questioned. HC has quashed the April 10 order of the SEC.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that they welcomed the decision of the court. “After this hopefully SEC will complete the election fast because a lot of days have been lost because of people who had moved court because they don't want the election to be completed on time. After this heat will rise and monsoon will set in. There is no time to lose . People will suffer owing to this postponement,” she said.
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