Bhawanipur bye-poll to be held as scheduled on September 30: Calcutta High Court

The bye-elections to the Bhawanipur constituency in West Bengal will be held on September 30 as scheduled after the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday rejected a plea challenging the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to prioritise the bye-elections to the constituency (Sayan Banerjee v. Election Commission of India)..West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting from Bhawanipore against BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal. A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj however criticised the conduct of the Chief Secretary of the State in writing a letter to the ECI requesting that bye-elections be held on priority. "We have dismissed the petition. Election will be held. But we have commented on the conduct of the Chief Secretary. It was not appropriate for him to have written such a letter," Justice Bindal said pronouncing the verdict..Mamata Banerjee had lost the April 2021 elections from Nandigram constituency to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari and has to be re-elected to the assembly within six months for her to continue as Chief Minister.TMC's winning candidate from Bhavanipore, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur seat so that the Chief Minister can get elected from there.The Chief Secretary had then written to the Election Commission stating that there would be constitutional crisis in the State, if elections are not held on priority since the current Chief Minister is planning to seek election to the assembly from the said constituency.The petitioner submitted that the very basis on which the election to only one constituency came to be notified, was erroneous.He contended that merely because one person is not elected will not create any constitutional crisis as any other elected member of the Assembly can be sworn in as leader of the party and consequently, the Chief Minister.He further pointed out that the Chief Secretary had behaved like a spokesperson of the party. "He was behaving like a political party spokesman and not a public servant, who has to work above party lines. How the Chief Secretary can state that the Chief Minister wants to contest from any Assembly Constituency. It is for the candidate to decide. It becomes known to the public only when the nominations are filed or the party declares a candidate," it was submitted.The Court agreed with the petitioner's arguments that the conduct of the Chief Secretary was inappropriate. "We record our strong reservation about the conduct of the Chief Secretary in writing a letter to the Election Commission stating that there would be ‘constitutional crisis’ in case by-election to the Bhabanipur Constituency is not held. He is a public servant, who is to discharge his duties in terms of provisions of law, whosoever may be in power. He is not to ensure that any particular person should come in power and in the absence there would be ‘constitutional crisis’," the Court said.However, it refrained from interfering with the elections since the election was announced and date notified. "As the process of election was initiated with the issuance of press note dated September 04, 2021 and the polling has to be held on September 30, 2021 we do not find it appropriate to interfere with the decision of the Commission to hold by-election to Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency at this stage," the Court said dismissing the plea.Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya appeared for the petitioner while advocate Sidhant Kumar appeared for the Election Commission of India..[Read Judgment]