Sufia Khatun v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

Ct. 24 Item No.02 SL 06.07.2023 (Suvendu) WPA 16054 OF 2023 Sufia Khatun Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Asfak Ahammed .....for the petitioners Mr. Lalit Mohan Mahato Mr. Rudranil De ... for the State Ms. Sonal Sinha Mr. Sujit Gupta Mr. Sayan Datta Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ... for the State Election Commission.

The petitioner is aggrieved by the act on the part of the Panchayat Returning Officer in accepting the nomination of the private respondent even though she is a contractual employee of the Water Resources Department, Government of West Bengal. According to the petitioner, contractual employees of the Government are ineligible to contest in the Panchayat General Elections, 2023.

It is noticed that the final list of contesting candidates has already been published by the Commission long back and the election is scheduled to be held day after tomorrow.

At this late stage it is not possible to pass any direction upon the Commission to rescrutinize the nomination papers filed by the private respondent. In view of the above, no relief can be granted to the petitioner in the instant case.

The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed. Dismissal of the writ petition, however, will not stand in the way of the petitioner to seek appropriate remedy before the competent forum in accordance with law, if so advised.

Liberty is given to file the election petition, as prayed for.

Urgent certified photocopy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties expeditiously on compliance of usual legal formalities.

(Amrita Sinha, J.)