New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari against the Calcutta High Court order, refusing to interfere with the West Bengal panchayat poll process.
Senior advocate P.S. Patwalia appeared on behalf of Adhikari, who is the leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, before the apex court.
Adhikari’s plea sought reassessment of figures of SCs and STs, ahead of the panchayat polls in West Bengal.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala noted that interfering with an election is a serious matter and asked the petitioner’s counsel, how can court stop elections midway when it is already scheduled.
Declining to entertain the petition, the bench said: “Interdicting an election is a serious matter and we cannot do that. We will not interfere…”
Adhikari had challenged the high court order which rejected his plea against two notifications concerning the computation of the population of SCs/STs/backward classes in the state for reservation of seats in the panchayat polls.
The high court had noted that any interference at this stage in connection may lead to the postponement of the panchayat elections in the state. The court also noted that the state election commission would be in a better position to take a call on the points raised by the BJP MLA over reservation of seats.
(IANS)
