Calcutta High Court Refuses To Interfere In Bengal Panchayat Poll Process

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to interfere in the panchayat election process in West Bengal, while holding that there is a substance in petitioner Suvendu Adhikari's contention that different criteria was being used for working out seat reservation criteria for the upcoming 2023 local body polls.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj held that any interference at this stage in connection with the PIL filed by Mr Adhikari, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal assembly, may lead to postponement of the panchayat elections in the state.

The court refused to interfere in the panchayat polls in West Bengal at this stage while holding that there is a substance in Mr Adhikari's claim over the use of different criteria for the reservation of seats in various categories.

Suvendu Adhikari's contention was the same yardstick should be applied for reserving seats for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes on the one hand and OBCs on the other.

The petitioner's counsel had submitted during hearing of the petition that according to the election commission's notification and guidelines, household survey is being conducted to determine the backward class population size while the 2011 census was being used to calculate SC/ST population.

The court left it to the State Election Commission to take a call on the points raised by the BJP MLA over such reservation of seats.

The panchayat elections in the state are likely to be held by the middle of this year.