Calcutta High Court dismisses CPM's e-nomination plea

A single bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar at the Calcutta High Court turned down CPI(M)'s plea regarding the acceptance of poll nominations via email saying that the HC would not interfere in the poll process as the State Election Commission (SEC) was looking into it.

The CPI(M), in another plea, had said that the SEC had failed to ensure security of intending candidates in a violation of court order. The court had sought an affidavit from the Director General of West Bengal Police and the SEC in that regard.

Speaking for online applications, CPI(M) lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said that the SEC had accepted nominations over WhatsApp for nine persons in a hearing on Tuesday, so why would not it accept for 134 others who had submitted their nominations online as well?

In response, SEC secretary said that the nine candidates concerned were present at the SEC office in person.

While the HC turned down the online acceptance plea, it said that hearing regarding the security aspect would take place in June.

The Congress, on the other hand, said that it would move the division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday demanding an extension of nomination date as many of their candidates had not been able to file nominations owing to the poll violence.