West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Clashes Between BJP Workers & Police While SC to Pass Order on Plea on April 9

New Delhi, April 6: A violent clash broke out between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and security personnel in West Bengal on Friday. According to a tweet by ANI, the incident that occurred in Birbhum injured one policeman. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court said it will pass orders on April 9 on the BJP West Bengal unit’s plea alleging that its candidates are not being allowed to file their nomination papers for the panchayat polls next month.

According to PTI reports, the BJP has sought an extension of the last date of nomination in its plea. It must be noted that the last day of nomination is April 9. A bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre said, “We are reserving verdict for 9 April.”

On Friday, during the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the West Bengal unit of the BJP, said democracy is being murdered in the state as candidates are not being allowed to file their nomination papers and there is large-scale violence.

To recall, the West Bengal panchayat elections are scheduled to be held on May 1, May 3 and May 5 and the votes are to be counted on May 8. According to the notification, the last date of filing nominations is 9 April and the last date of scrutiny of the nominations is 11 April.

As per reports, the plea alleged that block development officers, appointed as assistant panchayat electoral registration officers by the West Bengal State Election Commission, are refusing to give nomination forms to BJP candidates.