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TMC MP and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee challenged the maintainability of the BJP's writ petition and also cited several judgments to claim that the court did not have any power to
interfere once the election process has been initiated. File photo of a voting booth Plunging the fate of the three-tier Panchayat elections in West Bengal into more uncertainty, a single
bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday extended the interim stay on poll process for another day. The next hearing will be on Wednesday at 10.30 am. During
Tuesday's hearing, TMC MP and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee challenged the maintainability of the BJP's writ petition and also cited several judgments to claim that the court did
not have any power to interfere once the election process has been initiated. The court, on its part, said that had that been the case, why would the Supreme Court direct the HC to look into
the trouble that had arisen during the process of filing nominations? On Monday, both the CPI(M) and the Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS) made fresh petitions to appeal for a new
election schedule to be announced and that the state election commissioner be replaced. The State Election Commission (SEC) also submitted a report to the court regarding what steps it had
taken to redress the grievances of the people who had complained that they could not file their nominations and what the SEC had done to ensure a free and fair poll process in Bengal. BJP
state president Dilip Ghosh said, "Now that the case is with the single bench, I am sure the court will find a way to ensure free and fair polls in Bengal." Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee did not want to comment on the court order, but alleged that Opposition parties were trying to avoid election. "CPI(M), Congress and BJP have ganged up because they had not
been doing any public welfare work throughout the year and now they are afraid to face the elections which is why are trying hard to delay it," she said at Nabanna, the state
secretariat. Taking a dig at Kalyan Banerjee and SEC, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, "They were citing thousands of references away from the core issue, to prove that
the court did not have any right to interfere with the election process, but they are forgetting that the High Court is not the SEC which they can intimidate and arm-twist into changing its
decision." ARGUMENT VOLLEY * During Tuesday’s hearing, TMC MP and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee challenged the maintainability of the BJP’s writ petition * Also cited several judgments
to claim that the court did not have any power to interfere once the election process has been initiated