TMC to push for staying HC verdict on panchayat polls
13 May 2013 7:41 AM IST
Even as the state election commission (SEC) and the Mamata Banerjee led state government battle it out in court over the panchayat poll parameters, the state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said that an ‘out of court’ settlement with the SEC could help solve the impasse. Legally though it will push for a stay order against the pro-SEC High Court verdict.
The Calcutta high court has supported the SEC in its fight against the Mamata Banerjee government upholding the poll panel’s demands for central paramilitary forces to provide security cover and ordering a three-phase poll. It has also said the government has to ensure the funding of the forces. Mukherjee said that this was an ‘impractical’ judgement. ‘We will ask for a stay order’, he said. The hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Interestingly, the current panchayat government in the state is valid only till mid-June. But with the state government contesting the high court’s judgement, an early settlement to the issue seems unlikely. Incidentally, article 241(k) of the constitution holds up the primacy of the SEC in deciding when and how to conduct elections. However, the West Bengal panchayat poll legislation empowered the government to announce the dates in consultation with the SEC.
Lawyers have been arguing that Supreme Court verdicts on this issue uphold the primacy of the SEC in deciding polls at the panchayat and urban local body levels. On Friday the minister deemed the order as ‘impossible to implement and unacceptable’.
The Calcutta high court has supported the SEC in its fight against the Mamata Banerjee government upholding the poll panel’s demands for central paramilitary forces to provide security cover and ordering a three-phase poll. It has also said the government has to ensure the funding of the forces. Mukherjee said that this was an ‘impractical’ judgement. ‘We will ask for a stay order’, he said. The hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Interestingly, the current panchayat government in the state is valid only till mid-June. But with the state government contesting the high court’s judgement, an early settlement to the issue seems unlikely. Incidentally, article 241(k) of the constitution holds up the primacy of the SEC in deciding when and how to conduct elections. However, the West Bengal panchayat poll legislation empowered the government to announce the dates in consultation with the SEC.
Lawyers have been arguing that Supreme Court verdicts on this issue uphold the primacy of the SEC in deciding polls at the panchayat and urban local body levels. On Friday the minister deemed the order as ‘impossible to implement and unacceptable’.
Next Story
