There is uncertainty over holding of the panchayat elections in West Bengal on May 14 with the Calcutta High Court today saying that the date announced by the State Election Commission cannot be treated as final.
The court said that May 14 can be considered as a tentative date only.
The final decision on the election date will be considered by a division bench headed by the chief justice of the high court, Justice Subrata Talukdar said passing the direction on petitions by political parties challenging the SEC's decision to hold the panchayat poll on a single day.
Opposition BJP, CPI (M) and Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) had moved the court of Justice Talukdar claiming that his earlier directions on announcing the date/dates for elections were also not complied with by the commission with regard to prior consultations with stakeholders.
They also claimed that the commission, which had earlier announced the date for elections in three phases, has now notified that it would be done in only one phase thus raising the issue of security of voters as well as of candidates.
Justice Talukdar directed the SEC to place details on security arrangements for the elections before the division bench, which is scheduled to hear such matters on May 4.
Earlier too he had directed the SEC to submit a detailed report on security arrangements before the division bench.
Observing that the commission should be mindful of the Supreme Court directive to it to address grievances, Justice Talukdar had directed SEC to hold meaningful consultations with all stakeholders in the panchayat elections on security arrangements for the polls.
The court had, however, made it clear that the SEC will be the final decision-maker on security arrangements.
Justice Talukdar had passed the direction on April 24 after noting the concerns of opposition political parties, which petitioned the court over the necessity for sufficient security arrangements for the elections.
Sabyasachi Chatterjee, the counsel for PDS, today claimed before the court that security arrangements were inadequate and that there was no meaningful consultation with all the collective stakeholders in this regard as directed by the court.
He also claimed that the SEC has not announced the date for polling in conformity with the West Bengal Panchayat Act 2003 by not keeping a gap of 21 days between the last date of nomination on April 23 and the election day on May 14.
The commission claimed before the court that it had acted on the court's directions by first announcing the date for the extension of nomination which was followed by the announcement of the date for election.
SEC counsel Saktinath Mukherjee submitted before Justice Talukdar that the commission has set the date for polling keeping in mind the objections and representations to not hold the elections during the Islamic month of Ramzan beginning in the middle of May.
He submitted that details on security arrangements will be placed before the division bench on May 4 as directed by Justice Talukdar.
Justice Talukdar putting a poser before the SEC said, "Are we not putting the cart before the horse by fixing the date for polling prior to placing the security details before the division bench?"
Following petitions by opposition parties, Justice Talukdar had on April 20 quashed the commission's order cancelling the extension of the date for filing nominations as issued by it on April 10.
The court had directed the commission to issue a fresh notification extending the date for filing nominations upon consultation with the state and the major collective stake holders.
The judge had directed the commission to then reschedule the further dates in the election process as per statutory framework and to then carry forward the electoral process from the extended date of filing of nominations.
The SEC had on April 21 issued a notification allowing the filing of nomination on April 23 and also notified the dates for scrutiny and withdrawal of nomination.
The commission on April 26 announced the date for election to be on May 14.
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