The High Court of Calcutta on Thursday reserved its order on a petition filed by Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleging that the nomination process for Panchayat polls in West Bengal witnessed violent incidents and that the State Election Commission failed to comply with the previous order of the High Court.
The Bench led by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam permitted Adhikari to file a separate writ petition with the concerns and expressed its displeasure at the alleged inaction of the West Bengal State Election Commission.
The High Court gave liberty to the state government to prefer an appeal against its previous order, stating that in absence of such an application, if the High Court’s directions were not implemented, then the Bench would have to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against the SEC.
The petition by the BJP leader alleged that insurmountable pressure was being put on the candidates to withdraw their nominations.