Kolkata: Bringing relief to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigations seeking to cancel by-election in Bhabanipur Assembly constituency on September 30. With this the court has cleared the hurdles faced by the Trinamool Congress leader in contesting the election.
While the court gave its nod to the by-election, it took exception to Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi's letter to the Election Commission of India seeking to expedite the bypoll in view of administrative exigencies and to avoid a vacuum in the state.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed at the division bench on the issue. After the court's verdict on Tuesday, advocate Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay, the counsel for the petitioners, told media persons that as per observations of the division bench, the Chief Secretary being a bureaucrat cannot act in the interest of one person.
"The court observed that the Chief Secretary crossed his authority limits by writing a letter to the ECI. He has not done the right thing. On November 17, the court will also hear the argument on who will bear the expenses of by-elections conducted to protect the interest of one person. However, the bench has clearly stated that it will not interfere in the process of bypoll on September 30," Chattopadhyay said.
Soon after the bypoll for Bhabanipur was announced, the BJP alleged that ECI had been acting in a biased manner. A petition was also filed by them at the Calcutta High Court. The court also sought an affidavit from the ECI on why they ordered bypoll for just one Assembly constituency.
As per the directive of the court, the ECI has submitted the affidavit. However, the court was not satisfied with the reply and criticised the role of ECI on this count.
Also read: Bhabanipur bypoll: EC sends notice to BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal
