The Supreme Court on Friday allowed 30 days time for the aggrieved to challenge the results of the uncontested seats of the West Bengal panchayat elections through election petitions.
The court did not order re-polling in over 20,000 panchayat seats in the state, as many had feared. These seats had been won uncontested by the Trinamool Congress in May this year. This is somewhat of a relief for Mamata Banerjee who has been criticised for not reining in her party members who allegedly did not allow the opposition parties to file nominations in a large number of seats for the panchayat elections in the state.
The court added that a large number of seats going uncontested is a serious issue. The apex court also set aside the Calcutta High Court order allowing filing of nomination papers through e-mail, WhatsApp in the state. The Supreme Court rejected pleas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) seeing cancellation of polls in over 20,000 seats.
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