The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the panchayat elections in West Bengal as it asked the state BJP to approach the Calcutta High Court with all the issues raised before the apex court, including extending the deadline to file nomination papers.
A bench of Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre heard the plea by West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party that questioned the State Election Commission's decision to revoke its order of extending the last date for filing nominations by a day to April 10.
As senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for West Bengal, urged the apex court to say that none of the latter's observations will impact the High Court hearing, the bench said: "... observations do not carry any weight. If it (had) carried weight, then the State Election Commission would not have rescinded its order."
The panchayat elections are scheduled for May 1, 3 and 5, while the counting of votes will be taken up on May 8.
--IANS
pk/tsb/vm
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)