Purulia: Rejection of TMC nominee's candidature set aside by HC

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission to accept TMC leader Ujjwal Kumar's nomination from Joypur Assembly constituency in Purulia thereby clearing the decks for his contesting the elections.

Kumar had filed his nomination as a TMC candidate from Joypur Assembly constituency which was rejected by the Returning Officer on March 10, 2021.

He immediately moved the high court challenging the move of the Election Commission.

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, while hearing the matter, on Thursday passed an order setting aside the rejection of the nomination of Ujjwal Kumar. The court declared that the nomination papers submitted by Kumar are valid and in accordance with law thereby granting him the nod to contest the elections.

The court has further recorded that the defects in the nomination papers as pointed out by the Returning Officer are hyper technical and cannot be treated as of substantial character and therefore, the rejection due to such defects is not tenable.

Kumar has submitted his nomination on Tuesday but the Returning Officer rejected the same due to some defects and asked him to submit the same afresh with rectifications on Wednesday. He followed the RO's instructions and submitted nomination again on Wednesday. Later that night the Commission declared in its website that Kumar's nomination has been turned down due to some error. Secretary-general of TMC Partha Chatterjee welcomed the verdict of the court and said that the party had raised strong objections in the High Court with Kumar's nomination being rejected by the Commission on such flimsy grounds.

Among the 30 Assembly constituencies that are going for polls in the first phase on March 27, Purulia

consists of seven assembly constituencies. .