In a blow to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court on Thursday prevented the State Election Commission (SEC) from announcing the results of nearly 20,000 uncontested seats, where only candidates from the ruling party had filed nomination papers.
Meanwhile the Calcutta High Court on Thursday said the SEC and State officials would be held liable and have to pay compensation if the loss of life and property in the panchayat election is higher than that in the 2013 poll.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra took notice of this fact while hearing an appeal by the SEC against a May 8 Calcutta High Court order which directed the poll panel to accept all nominations filed through email by Opposition party candidates in the elections due for May 14. Terming the order as “bad”, the Bench, also comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud found no reasoning for the HC to interfere in the election process, especially when the last date of nomination had expired on April 23. The HC had held the Information Technology Act applicable to the process of filing of nominations, governed purely by the Representation of People Act.
The SC also asked the State poll panel to ensure “free and fair” panchayat elections on May 14 in the State.
But before the State Government could celebrate this order, the Bench took note of the submissions made by the CPI(M) and the BJP who complained of their candidates being threatened, beaten and prevented from filing nominations. Due to this reason, they alleged that 20,076 seats out of the total 58,692 seats in the State will not have any polls as it will fall straight into the kitty of the ruling party in the State whose candidates will get elected unopposed.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia who appeared for the BJP candidates submitted that the State Government was appearing in the disguise of the SEC as their repeated complaints to the poll panel have gone unheeded.
Expressing concern over such a large number of seats being kept out of polls on May 14, the Bench asked SEC counsel senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi whether the results had yet been published. He informed the court that the Commission had put out a list of 34.2 per cent seats where no election is to take place. The Bench found this figure too hard to ignore as it directed the SEC not to publish the results of these 20,076 seats without the orders of the apex court. The court further emphasised the duty cast upon the SEC to hold free and fair elections on Monday. The matter will next be heard next on July 3.
