With the process of filing of nominations for the three-phase panchayat polls beginning 1 May being dogged by violence and allegations of intimidation by ruling party activists, Calcutta High Court on Tuesday passed an interim stay on the West Bengal State Election Commission’s order earlier in the day cancelling its own directive last night to extend the nominations deadline by a day. The last day for filing nominations was to expire on Monday. Hearing will be held on Wednesday.

State BJP leader Pratap Bandopadhyay moved the HC challenging the cancellation. Justice Subrata Talukdar heard the petitioner and his opponent in his chamber following objection by lawyers in view of the ongoing ceasework.

After the hearing Mr Bandopadhyay said the court had passed the interim stay which will continue till 23 April. All parties involved in the matter were asked to file affidavits stating their position on the matter.

Trinamul Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, who appeared for the ruling party, said though the court ordered a stay, it refused to interfere with the election process. He further said since scrutiny of nominations was scheduled to be held on 11 April, the interim order would not affect the election process.

The SEC had on Monday ordered the nominations would be received at designated state government offices from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm on Tuesday.

Tempers rose in the courtroom before the hearing of the matter after a counsel walked in wearing band and gown though the advocates have been staying away from the court for over a month in support of their demands including appointment of sufficient number of judges.

The advocate who had come in wearing band and gown was taken away from the court room.

Earlier during the day, PCC chief Adhir Chowdhury was given leave by Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee of the High Court to file a fresh application specifying incidents of flouting of an order of this Bench directing the superintendents of police to help the panchayat candidates file nominations if needed.

Opposition parties ~ the BJP, the Left Front and the Congress, which had lauded the SEC’s decision to extend the nomination deadline on Monday, held several demonstrations outside the commission’s office alleging it had buckled under pressure exerted by the ruling party to cancel the extension of deadline. To control the situation, a huge contingent of police force was deployed outside the SEC office throughout the day.

The new notification issued by the SEC said: “It appears that there was no specific direction by the Supreme Court of India for extension of the nomination date. Therefore on perusal of all the papers and considering all the points, the Commission hereby recalls the said order and therefore rescinds the (previous) order.”

According to the new notification, the SEC had received two letters, one from the special secretary of the state government and another from the Trinamul citing legal infirmities in the previous order of the commission.

Trinamul’s all-India general secretary Subrata Bakshi said never before in the history of the panchayat polls had the nomination date been extended after gazette notification. Extensions can be done only in case of natural disasters but no such thing had happened now.

State BJP panchayat convener Mukul Roy said the sudden cancelation of the order by the SEC caused immense suffering to candidates.