WB Panchayat Elections: State Election Commission Tells Calcutta High Court It Can Extend Nomination Period By One Day

In petitions concerning the upcoming Panchayat elections in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court today asked the State Election Commission (SEC) if the polling date can be pushed further to grant sufficient time to candidates for filing nominations.The division bench of Chief Justice Sivagnaman and Justice Hiranmay Bhattcharya had last week said that five days time provided for filing nomination papers is prima facie inadequate. Today, it suggested that if polling, presently scheduled to be held on July 8, is conducted on July 14 then filing of nominations can start from 15th and continue to last till 21st. Scrutiny of nominations may be done till 23rd June and the window for withdrawal may be extended till 26th June.Since as per Section 43(1)(a) of the West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003 the last date for making nomination cannot be later than 21 days before the date fixed for the poll, the bench suggested that the polling date may be fixed as July 14.However, the State Election Commission submitted that Courts cannot interdict the election process and only one day extension can be given without disturbing the election process. In this regard, it cited the proviso to Section 46 of the Act which states that if the Commission is satisfied that there is reasonable apprehension of prevention/ obstruction to the intending candidates from making nominations, it may extend the last date for making nomination for one day.Nominations close on June 15th. SEC said it can extend the period till 16th June. "17th June date of scrutiny, 18th June date of withdrawal. What I submit is one day extension will not disturb this process. But apart from anything else the process has been like this throughout the years," SEC's counsel Jayant Mitra said.The State government also expressed disagreement with Court's suggestion, stating that such a step would amount to 'revocation' of notice under Section 43(2), which is beyond the scope of powers of the Election Commission.Petitioner on the other hand contended that the last date for elected body to take place is August so any order given will not be an interdict on the election. "Date if completion has not been notified. Only date of poll 8th July. So court orders may not result in interdiction."The Court heard all the parties and length and admitted the petitions filed by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and BJP's Suvendu Adhikari. The writ petitioners had raised several points of contention such as lack of reasonable notice period for filing nominations, deployment of central reserve forces to maintain law and order, employment of contractual workers as polling officers, among others.In terms of Court's previous direction, the State Election Commission handed over a report addressing these concerns.Lack of reasonable timeSEC's counsel Jayant Mitra argued that reasonable time had been provided to the candidates to file their nomination as five days were given from the issue of the notification till the time that nominations were scheduled to close. After the preliminary observations of the court on 9th June, that five days’ notice was prima-facie inadequate, the Counsel for the SEC submitted than one more additional day can be provided in order for the election process to not be disrupted, since the candidates knew that they would need to file for nominations in physical mode on the 24th of April itself.The grievances of the petitioners are such that due to insufficient time for nomination being provided by the SEC, the prospective candidates are being unable to file their nomination papers. Further, according to the Counsel of the Petitioner, only 4 hours between 11am and 3pm are available for the candidates to file their papers. The Bench noted that if time of nomination is extended, then such an exercise would need to be carried out with the subsequent scrutiny process and then the withdrawal process, which would result in an extension of the entire election timeline. Chief Justice Sivagnaman suggested that five clear days, excluding the date of notice be provided.The counsel for the SEC however submitted that it is a settled position of law that, the ultimate power with governing an election rest with the Election Commission. Even the Courts cannot give directions that may interdict the election process. Thus, an extension within 43(1)(a) would make sure that the polls take place on the date as notified and would not result in the interdicting of the process, it was submitted.The Court noted the submissions of the petitioners on the paper work that needed to be completed to file nominations, as well as the restrictive hours of the Offices of the Block Development Officers where nominations had to be filed in physical form, and asked the Counsel for the State Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandhyopadhyay to ensure that working hours of these offices are lengthened to provide a seamless nomination procedure for prospective candidates.Contractual WorkersFurther writ petitions ...

WB Panchayat Elections: State Election Commission Tells Calcutta High Court It Can Extend Nomination Period By One Day

Srinjoy Das