Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for SEC, requested the court to record that the HC should not draw any inference from the apex court order.
Making known its displeasure over the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) flip-flop on extending the last date for filing nominations for panchayat polls, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the state unit of the BJP to raise its grievance against this before the Calcutta High Court.
The order came from a bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre on an application by the party against the SEC’s decision to recall its April 9 notification extending last date for nominations.
“As the matter is pending consideration before the Calcutta High Court, liberty is granted to the parties to approach the Calcutta High Court to raise all such pleas which are available to them,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for SEC, requested the court to record that the HC should not draw any inference from the apex court order. To this, the bench asked “Why should we record that in the order? It is now up to the Calcutta HC to look into the matter”.
Dave replied, “Your order carries weight and therefore the court may record that no inference should be drawn from it.”
“Had our order carried such weight, the SEC would not have recalled its order for extending the deadline,” the bench replied.
Senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for the BJP, contended the SEC had withdrawn its order under pressure from the TMC. He said the ruling dispensation was the “oppressor” and not allowing candidates of other parties to file nomination papers.
Senior advocate Amrendra Sharan, appearing for the West Bengal government, said the BJP and one other petitioner had on Tuesday approached the Calcutta HC after which it passed the stay order.