Calcutta HC directs SEC to accept nominations filed for Bengal panchayat polls

Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal State Election Commission to accept the nominations of those candidates who had filed their papers electronically within the stipulated time for the panchayat elections. 

The court said yesterday that only those nominations which were filed through e-mail before 3 pm on April 23rd, the last date of filing nomination papers, have to be accepted. 

The court said, the SEC, being a constitutional body, has to act fairly, transparently and independently to advance the democratic principles by allowing the intending candidates to



contest. 

The court said, in a situation where allegations of obstructing candidates from filing nominations had surfaced, it should have allowed the filing of papers through e-mail.

The CPI(M) had submitted before the court that many of their candidates were prevented from filing nominations by what it called hooligans. 

Earlier, the SEC had opposed the appellant's plea to allow the filing of nominations through e-mail, claiming that the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2003 did not have any such provision.