High Court issues contempt notice against State Election Commissioner

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday issued contempt of court notice (notice) against West Bengal State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajeev Sinha in a case related to the panchayat elections held in July.

Chief Justice T.S. A division bench of Justices Sivagananam and Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya, while observing that the SEC could be held liable for contempt of court, issued the ruling directing Sinha to appear in person in the court during the next hearing on November 24 and file an inquiry before the court in the matter. Asked to give his explanation.

The veterans believe that this is an unprecedented development, as there is no precedent for any SEC issuing similar rulings against it in the past.

The rule was issued in a case filed by Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, accusing the State Election Commission of reluctance to control irregularities in rural civic body elections in the state.

In his plea, the officer alleged that despite the Calcutta High Court’s clear observation that only the State Election Commission is responsible for any incident of violence in rural civic body elections. The opposition leader also argued that the State Election Commissioner is accountable in this matter. Till the time of writing the report, there was no response from the State Election Commissioner or the ruling Trinamool Congress. However, the state leadership of BJP has welcomed this development.