West Bengal panchayat polls: Supreme Court to pronounce order on BJP plea seeking re-scheduling of elections

The Supreme Court is set to pronounce its order on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plea seeking availability of nomination papers online, extension of the last date of filing these papers, re-scheduling of the Gram Panchayat election and deployment of paramilitary forces in West Bengal in the run-up to the polls scheduled in the first week of May. On Friday, the apex court had reserved its order after BJP sought the deployment of paramilitary forces alleging that its candidates were being denied the nomination papers by the block development officers (BDO) and were being targeted by members of the ruling party in the state. The BDOs have been designated assistant panchayat electoral registration officers to give and accept the nomination papers. During the filing of nominations for the rural polls in West Bengal on Friday, violence was reported from Birbhum, Bankura and Murshidabad districts in which many people were injured. Clashes broke out in several districts in West Bengal on Saturday too between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists and Opposition parties in the continuing political violence during the filing of nominations for the May panchayat polls, police said, even as nearly 2,000 people were held in the state. [caption id=“attachment_4421313” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Supreme Court. Reuters[/caption] On Sunday, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said he heard both versions (BJP and TMC) of what happened but refused to disclose what action he planned to take. “I have heard TMC’s version and that of other political parties. I will not disclose what action I will take,” he said. At the outset of the hearing in the Supreme Court, a bench of Justice RK Agrawal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre had asked BJP to approach Calcutta High Court. “This is the question of democracy. Even if I have not approached the high court, I can come directly to the Supreme Court because it is a question of democracy. Actually, democracy is being murdered in West Bengal,” senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for BJP, said on being questioned by the bench on why he did not approach the high court. The senior lawyer tried to justify why he did not approach the high court, saying that work was paralysed there as lawyers were on strike since 19 February and advocates going to the court were being manhandled. He said that BJP candidates were not getting the nomination papers for the panchayat elections, a fact that could be established from the data of Election Commission which showed that nominations filed by TMC candidates so far were more than the Left parties, BJP, or Congress. “The ruling party is engaged in large-scale poll violence. We are not getting nomination papers. I have videos which show violence in many places. Parties (BJP and Congress) who are arch rivals, are aggrieved and seeking the same remedy. I must say that this is a troubled state,” Rohatgi said. Describing West Bengal a “troubled state”, Rohatgi told the bench that if the state government was unable to discharge its constitutional responsibility, then the Centre must step in and uphold the Constitution. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, referring to the situation, had said that three major political parties in the state — BJP, Congress and CPM — were asking for central forces. Appearing for the West Bengal government, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that BJP was doing all this for the sake of “splash in media” and cited the areas of West Bengal where BJP had filed more nomination papers than the ruling TMC. “They just want a court order to make a splash in the media which would make the entire West Bengal go disarray. They have not made a single specific averment as to where the candidates were denied nomination papers or denied them,” he said. Singhvi said the BJP counsel has “hit a self-goal” as the data he gave to the court also says that in Midnapore, Jhargram and Purulia, their candidates have filed more nominations than the TMC candidates. Agreeing with Rohatgi that there were troubles in the state, Singhvi said the question was who was fomenting the trouble. “There is trouble in the state. The question is who is fomenting the trouble. You (BJP) have no presence in the state. You are fomenting the trouble and asking for central forces,” Singhvi said responding the BJP’s arguments. He said that without approaching the State Election Commission and the Calcutta High Court, BJP has parachuted to the Supreme Court and this was only for the media splash. The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held on 1, 3 and 5 May. The votes will be counted on 8 May. According to the notification, the last date of filing nominations is 9 April and the last date of scrutiny of the nominations is 11 April. With inputs from agencies