Calcutta High Court rejects plea over Rath affidavit

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed West Bengal Congress’s request to examine an alleged discrepancy in Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hasirani Rath’s nomination affidavit before the Nandigram by-election, finding that intervention at this stage would affect the election process. The court did not decide whether the affidavit was inaccurate, and said the issue could be raised through an election petition after the election. The dispute concerns Rath’s Form 26 affidavit, which listed her age as 60 and her Class X completion year as 1965. Congress argued that the two declarations were inconsistent and that the returning officer should have examined them when reviewing Rath’s nomination. Justice Krishna Rao said determining whether the discrepancy amounted to a substantial defect would require evidence that could not be assessed at this stage of the election. The court relied on the principle that judicial intervention should generally not interrupt, obstruct or prolong an ongoing election process. The Election Commission’s counsel told the court that Rath’s nomination had been scrutinised and accepted on September 17, and that no objection was raised during that scrutiny.