EC places tentative schedule for bypolls before Apex Court

Kolkata: Tentative schedule for the byelection to the Maniktala Assembly Constituency was placed before the Supreme Court by the Election Commission (EC).

The Maniktala seat was won by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sadhan Pande by defeating BJP candidate Kalyan Chaubey, who had later challenged the poll result in Calcutta High Court. Pande died on February 20, 2022. The EC had refused to hold the bypoll for the seat citing that Chaubey’s election petition was pending before the court.

According to a news agency, Chaubey had informed the Supreme Court on May 6 that he had moved an application seeking withdrawal of his petition challenging the 2021 poll. On May 13, the Apex Court was informed that the petition was dismissed by the high court. On Monday, the counsel representing the Election Commission submitted a tentative schedule before the Vacation Bench of Justice P K Mishra and Justice K V Viswanathan in a sealed cover.

While disposing of the pleas, the Bench observed that it cannot announce the by-election schedule. Some residents of Maniktala had moved Calcutta HC seeking early holding of by-election as they have remained unrepresented in state Assembly since the demise of the sitting MLA. Since the matter was

fixed at the high court with a long gap, the residents had approached SC.