Tripura HC Dismissed Opposition's Plea of Online Nomination Submission

• By Thetripurapost Desk, Agartala
• Jul 18, 2024
• 241

A division bench of Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice SD Purkayastha of the Tripura High Court dismissed the petitions of online filing of nominations for upcoming panchayat elections and extending the deadline for filing nominations which was filled by the opposition Left Front and Congress.

But the court ordered the state government and the Panchayat Election Commission to conduct fair, free and peaceful elections. 

In this regard, lawyer Purushottam Roy Barman informed that, there is widespread violence in the state centering the panchayat elections. In most cases, the candidates of the opposition parties are not able to file nominations. In view of this, even though Congress demanded to  the Election Commission to submit nominations online but no solution was found. 

The Election Commission, as advised by the Law Office, had made it clear to the Congress that the Election Commission had no right to take any decision on the matter. Only the Returning Officers in charge of Panchayat administration have the right to take this decision.

Later, Congress President Ashish Kumar Saha filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking online filing of nominations for the panchayat elections and extending the deadline for filing nominations. 

Likewise, a petition was filed by Left Front on the same plea. 

On Thursday , a division bench of Justice Arindam Lodh and Justice SD Purkayastha delivered the verdict in the two cases simultaneously. 

He said, once the election process starts, the scope of high court intervention is very limited. However, the court ordered the state government and the State Election Commission to conduct fair, free and peaceful elections. 

However, the petition to extend the deadline for submission of nominations has been rejected