PIL filed against Rajiva Sinha’s appointment

A Public Interest Litigation was filed challenging the appointment of Rajiva Sinha as the West Bengal State Election Commissioner at the Calcutta High Court on June 26.

The petition filed by Nobyendu Bandyopadhyay, a Calcutta High Court counsel, will come up for hearing at the division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam on June 30.

Sinha has been at the centre of controversy since the Governor’s House cleared his appointment for the chair on June 7.

He first drew criticism as he announced the polling dates for the panchayat polls in West Bengal on June 8, just a day after his appointment for the chair.

The opposition then charged him of announcing the poll dates without any homework.

At a later stage he attracted criticism of the Calcutta High Court at different times over the continuing incidents of clashes and violence during the nomination phase for the rural civic body polls.

The Chief Justice, at a point, even advised Sinha to step down if he was unable to take the pressure.

“The government will then appoint anyone else for the Chair,” Justice Sivagnanam observed.

The State Election Commission even drew the criticism of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who observed that the state election commissioner was responsible for every incident of bloodshed in the state over the rural civic body polls.

The Governor has even refused to accept Sinha’s joining letter as the state election commissioner.

On Sunday, during a meeting at the Governor’s House, Bose even advised Sinha to maintain neutrality of his chair while performing his duties.

Now with a fresh PIL filed at the Calcutta High Court challenging his appointment as the state election commissioner, the sequence of events has taken a dramatic turn.