Supreme Court questions many panchayat seats going uncontested in West Bengal

The Supreme court on Tuesday took a dim view of West Bengal panchayat election saying thousands of seats going uncontested shows that democracy is not working in the stateIt seems democracy is not working at the ground level It is shocking that thousands of seats have gone uncontested said a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY ChandrachudObserving that over 34 per cent seats going uncontested makes it clear that part IX of the Constitution dealing with the panchayat was not functioning in the state the bench directed the West Bengal State Election Commission to file an affidavit stating the number of seats that went uncontestedThe court said it would examine whether a high court in exercise of its powers under Article 226 could read the provision of Information Technology Act into the Representation of People ActGiving the state poll body a days time to file the affidavit the court directed the next hearing on WednesdayEven in the last hearing of the matter on May 10 Chief Justice Misra said What is worrying us is both the high court order and 34 per cent candidates getting elected unopposedHaving expressed its concern Chief Justice Misra had said that State Election Commission would ensure absolute fairness in the conduct of electionThe opposition parties have claimed that nearly 16000 of the total 48000 seats have gone uncontested However the State Election Commission official had no definite data on thisThe court observation came in the course of the hearing of a plea by the state election body challenging the Calcutta High Courts May 8 order permitting enomination and reading into the Representation of People Act 1954 the provision of the Information Technology ActThe high court allowed enominations in the wake of the allegations that candidates were being intimidated and threatened with violence when they approached the election authorities for nomination papersThe top court on May 10 stayed the operation of the Calcutta High Court order on nomination papers and directed the State Election Commission not to notify the results of the candidates who have been declared elected unopposedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever