Above: People stand in queues outside a polling booth to cast their vote during West Bengal Panchayat Election (file pic)/Photo: UNI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 3) told the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) to apprise it about the exact number of uncontested seats in the Panchayat elections which were held recently.

The bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud was acting on the plea seeking its interference in the recent incident of the rejection of the nomination of the CPI (M) candidates as the nomination was sent through e-mail to the WBSEC.

The bench noted that it was understandable that on few seats the candidates won as no candidates were standing but candidates winning on such large number of seats without any candidate standing against them seemed suspicious.

“It seems that on the grassroots level, democracy is not working. It is very scary that in thousand of seats, candidates won uncontested. Bankura, Birhum and Murshidabad along with other areas had number of these seats,” the bench observed.

The hearing will continue tomorrow.

—India Legal Bureau