HC stalls Bengal rural poll process till April 16 

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday stalled all procedures pertaining to the West Bengal panchayat election undertaken by the State Election Commission (SEC) till April 16. 
It also asked the SEC to furnish a report on the nomination procedure.After hearing a petition by BJP leader Pratap Banerjee, Justice Subrata Talukdar ordered SEC secretary Nilanjan Sandilya to submit the detailed report on measures taken to implement the Supreme Court order to address the grievances of the Opposition pertaining to the alleged malpractices during the filing of nominations.

It also imposed a fine of `5 lakh on the BJP for ‘concealing facts’ by keeping both the supreme and high courts in the dark about appealing the same case in the two courts.Dismissing a plea of TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, the court said the election procedures will remain suspended under Section 43 of West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act. The order has led to possibilities of pushing back the dates of elections slated on May 1, 3 and 5 despite Sandilya pointing out that the scrutiny of nominations has begun.

“My argument was the (BJP) petition be dismissed as it was filed after the commencement of election procedures, but the court said election procedures have not begun. We will move  against this,” Banerjee said.BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said, adding that his party will legally contest the fine.