Mukul Roy leads a rally in front of the State Election Commission office in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)
THE WEST Bengal BJP and Congress on Friday moved the Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court, respectively, seeking the court’s intervention to enable the party’s candidates to file nominations for the state panchayat polls beginning May 1. Both parties also sought deployment of central paramilitary forces for orderly conduct of the polls.
Advocate Aiswarya Bhati, appearing for BJP General Secretary Pratap Banerjee in the Supreme Court, told the court that cadre of the ruling Trinamool Congress has unleashed largescale violence against BJP workers to stop them from filing nominations for the polls. She sought an urgent hearing, as the last day for filing nominations was April 9.
“We will hear it tomorrow,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said.
The petition requested the court to direct deployment of paramilitary forces to maintain law and order for smooth and orderly conduct of the polls.
It alleged that block development officers, appointed by the West Bengal State Election Commission as assistant panchayat electoral registration officers, were refusing to give nomination forms to BJP candidates. The officers were allegedly giving nomination forms only to candidates set up by the Trinamool. This was being aided by state authorities “by creating a fear psychosis and an atmosphere of fear by intimidating the candidates and the families of other rival parties”, the petition added.
Alleging that Trinamool workers were threatening the families of BJP candidates, the petition said: “The ruling party, by resorting to the use of threats and with the help of anti-social elements, is distorting the level playing field and defiling the sanctity and purity of the election process.”
State Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury, meanwhile, moved the Calcutta HC, seeking deployment of central forces for free and fair polls.