Appearing for the commission, senior advocate Amarendra Sharan said there was no material to initiate such an exercise.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) whether it had done any exercise to find out if candidates were prevented from filing nominations in seats which were won unopposed in the recent local body polls.
The query came from a bench of CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud while hearing a plea by the state BJP and CPM which have alleged that TMC cadres unleashed violence to prevent candidates of other parties from filing nominations.
Appearing for the commission, senior advocate Amarendra Sharan said there was no material to initiate such an exercise.
Justice Chandrachud pressed him further and asked, “Did you verify any of those constituencies where there was no complaint?” He said that “the very reason why there were no complaints may be because there is a sense of fear”. Saran said the commission had attended to every complaint it received. The CJI then told Saran “we don’t find fault with you”.
Senior advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, representing TMC, contended that political parties had filed the plea and added, “not a single individual has come before your lordships and said anything.”
Senior advocate P S Patwalia, appearing for the BJP, said the High Court order in the matter and notifications of the commission were testimony to the “prevailing situation of fear”. The arguments will continue Tuesday.