SEC knocks SC’s door against HC judgment

Kolkata: A day after facing heat of the Calcutta high court on poll process, the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) has moved the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the division bench’s order to the state poll panel to accept the e-nominations which were filed by the CPI(M) candidates for the upcoming panchayat elections. The appeal, however, got stuck due to some gaps.

On Wednesday, it filed a special leave petition (SLP) seeking stay on the high court’s order. The WBSEC argued that online nomination is against the election rules. According to it, most of the online nominations came through email accounts which however do not belong to the candidates. The WBSEC reasoned that the high court’s order was illegal as elections rules make it mandatory for the candidates to file their nominations in person.

The SLP, however, contained some flaws, sources claimed. Sources hinted that several questions cropped up over the SLP as it lacked the reference of the court’s name in page no 252 apart from other points. The SC directed the WBSEC to rectify the errors in its SLP to make a fresh plea for fast hearing. The Opposition parties are not lagging behind too. The CPI(M) and the BJP filed caveats at the apex court against the WBSEC’s move.

On Tuesday, a division bench of Justice Bishwanath Samaddar and Justice Arindam Mukhopadhyay of the high court directed the state election commission to accept the valid nominations, filed through e-mail by 3 pm on April 23, which was the extended date for filing nominations for the rural polls.

It also directed the WBSEC to publish their names in the candidates’ list after scrutinising their nominations. While passing the order the bench slammed the WBSEC’s role, observing that the state poll panel showed reluctance in accepting the candidates’ nominations via email. It noted the WBSEC should have acted cautiously in view of allegations of partiality against it and must have accepted the e-nominations.

It even made it clear that no political party has the right to give advice to the state poll panel about whose nominations would be accepted or not. The high court’s order did not go down well with the state poll panel which decided to move the SC with a view that those who already won uncontested may challenge the WBSEC at the court if the state poll panel incorporates the e-nominations of the CPI(M) candidates in the candidates’ list following the high court’s latest order.