Stay on W.Bengal election process extended by one more day

Kolkata, April 18: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday extended the stay on Panchayat poll process in West Bengal by one more day in view of the ongoing hearing of a case related to the polls while the argument over the role of the state poll body in conducting the election process intensified inside the courtroom.

A single-judge bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar extended the stay on the poll process till Thursday morning, when the case will be heard again.

Responding to the argument of ruling Trinamool Congress' counsel Kalyan Banerjee that court cannot interfere in an ongoing election process, Justice Talukdar said the Supreme Court had asked the State Election Commission to address the apprehensions of the petitioners or any intending candidate, and according to that the Commission had extended the nomination process by a day. However, it issued another notice to withdraw the extension within a few hours.