SC junks Suvendu Adhikari's plea on Bengal panchayat polls

The Supreme Court Thursday rejected a plea filed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari seeking re-assessment of the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) figures in West Bengal for the forthcoming panchayat polls there.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala orally remarked that "interdicting an election is a serious matter" and that the court cannot stop the authorities from holding the elections.

Adhikari had moved the court appealing against a March 28 order of the Calcutta High Court that had refused to entertain his plea. In his plea, Adhikari had argued before the high court that the current population figure of the SCs and STs in the state should be arrived at based on the household survey, as was the case for other backward classes (OBCs). He had argued that there could not have been two separate yardsticks.


Panchayat polls are due in the state in July. Finding no force in Adhikari's plea, the court dismissed it.