More uncertainty as HC says poll date ‘tentative’

KOLKATA: Bengal’s panchayat poll schedule, already disrupted once, is headed for another round of uncertainty after the Calcutta High Court’s terming of the new schedule as “only tentative” and its severe criticism of the State Election Commission for announcing May 14 as the date of voting without first ensuring foolproof security.

The SEC has already had to reschedule the polling date to a one-day vote on May 14, scrapping the original threeday vote scheduled for May 1, 3 and 5, after a court order extending the nomination paper-filing deadline. Tuesday’s order has now cast a shadow on the rescheduled poll date as well and forced the state chief secretary to convene an emergency meeting at the state secretariat on Thursday to discuss adequate security arrangements for rural polls.

The trial court of Justice Subrata Talukdar, while hearing the petitions filed by opposition parties on Tuesday, made it clear that the SEC had a constitutional responsibility to provide security and could not go ahead with the vote without first having the logistics in place.

The poll date could be treated as final only after the division bench of the same court examined the “security plan” submitted by the SEC, Justice Talukdar held, taking a cue from SEC lawyer Saktinath Mukherjee’s submission that “the security arrangements belong to the realm of the division bench”. Justice Talukdar directed the poll panel to treat the notified polling date as “only tentative” while taking note of the commission’s “diffidence” in announcing the date.

‘Tidal wave’ of complaints

The HC felt this was evident from the language of the State Election Commission notification of April 26, which described May 14, 2018, “as the date on which poll shall, if necessary, be taken”.

The trial court also put on record its “discomfiture” over the spate of petitions coming to the court like a “tidal wave” despite its reminding the State Election Commission of its responsibilities time and again.

Senior lawyer and Trinamool member of Parliament Kalyan Banerjee later said that he apprehended a conspiracy against “the holding of rural polls” but PDS secretary Samir Putatunda welcomed the order. “This is a landmark judgement in election history, where a court has ruled the poll date announced by an SEC is only tentative,” he said.

Senior lawyer and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee expressed his “disgust” with the SEC’s functioning.

“I have never come across so many litigations over one poll. The SEC is a constitutional body and needs to be aware of its responsibilities,” Chatterjee said.