The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Tuesday a petition by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) challenging the West Bengal State Election Commission’s (SEC) decision to recall its order extending the deadline for filing of nominations for panchayat polls by a day.
On Monday, the apex court had passed an order refusing to interfere with the Panchayat election process. At the same time, the Court directed the SEC to hear and decide on all complaints by political parties and candidates who were restrained from filing nominations.
Coming to Court a day later, advocate Aishwarya Bhati mentioned about the fresh development before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra who posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday before the appropriate bench.
“They (State Election Commission) have extended the deadline for filing the nominations by one day, but on Tuesday recalled the order under pressure from the ruling Trinamool Congress,” Bhati said, appearing for BJP.
She mentioned about the fresh application filed by the party seeking extension of the last date for filing of nominations.
Due to recall of the SEC order, several party candidates were not able to file their nomination papers.
The last date for filing nominations for the polls was Monday but the SEC by a fresh order extended the time till 3 pm Tuesday pursuant to complaints by opposition candidates who were prevented from filing their papers.