The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to intervene in the West Bengal panchayat election process, ANI reported. It told the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had filed a plea, to approach the Calcutta High Court instead to extend the last date for filing nominations.
Elections to the three-tier local body structure – zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, and gram panchayats – are scheduled for May 1, 3 and 5. The results will be declared on May 8. The BJP and some other Opposition candidates have accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of stopping them from filing nominations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the West Bengal State Election Commission’s decision to revoke its order extending the deadline to file nominations for panchayat elections by a day. The order extending the deadline to April 10 was issued Monday after violence broke out during the filing of nominations.
The saffron party had also moved the Supreme Court last week seeking to extend the last date of filing nominations. However, the top court refused to interfere with the civic polls. The BJP had filed the plea a day after a man was killed outside the office of the block development officer in West Bengal’s Bankura district.
The party had said that the victim, Ajit Murmu, was one of its candidates for the panchayat elections and blamed the Trinamool Congress for his death.
There have been several clashes over the last week between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers while candidates were filing nomination papers for the elections.
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