Kolkata, Sep 25 (IANS): A single-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Friday, reserved its judgment at the end of a hearing on a petition filed earlier this week by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee challenging the affidavit filed by Hasirani Rath, the BJP candidate for the October 6 bye-election to the Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district.
The petition, filed by Congress leader and senior advocate Ritzu Ghosal before the single-judge Bench of Justice Krishna Rao, claimed discrepancies in the candidate’s affidavit relating to her age and educational qualifications.
According to the petition, the details provided in the affidavit are self-contradictory and raise questions about the authenticity of the information furnished by the BJP nominee.
Ghosal contended that while Hasirani Rath has stated in the affidavit that she is over 60-years-old, she has also claimed to have passed the secondary examination in 1965, which would be inconsistent with the year of birth indicated in the same document.
“This means she was born in 1966. In the same affidavit, she had claimed that she passed the secondary examination in 1965. How could she pass the secondary examination before she was born?” Ghosal questioned.
He also argued that the information regarding the candidate’s age and educational record was “practically impossible” and sought cancellation of her nomination. He also alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) failed to act despite scrutinising the affidavit.
During the hearing on the matter on Friday at the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Krishna Rao, the ECI counsel argued that usually, when a candidate submits an affidavit, the Returning Officer checks the information during the scrutiny.
In this case, the ECI’s counsel argued that if someone raised an objection during the scrutiny, it would have been valid. But after that process, according to the ECI’s counsel, the litigant no longer had the right to raise questions on this matter with the scrutiny process being completed.
“This question could have been raised in a Public Interest Litigation. But since no objection was raised at the time of filing the nomination or during the scrutiny, no action can be taken now,” argued the ECI’s counsel.
The BJP candidate’s counsel also argued on similar lines that the objections in the matter were not raised at the time when the information in the affidavit was supposed to be raised. “Now the court cannot take any action against the candidate. Moreover, this is not a deliberate mistake. Therefore, my client should be given a chance,” Rath’s counsel argued.
Justice Rao heard the arguments of all the parties. After the hearing, he decided to postpone the verdict and keep it on reserve.
Polling for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bye-elections is scheduled for October 6, while counting of votes will take place on October 9.
