Kolkata, Oct 13 (IANS): The Calcutta High Court on Friday issued a contempt of court rule (notice) against West Bengal State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha in a case related to the panchayat elections held in July.

Observing that the SEC can be held responsible for contempt of court, a division bench of chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhttacharya, issued the rule asking Sinha to be personally present at the court during the next hearing on November 24 and give his clarifications to the court in the matter.

Veterans feel that this is an unprecedented development since there had been no past instance of similar rule issued against any SEC in the past.

The rule was issued in a case filed by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari accusing the state election commission of reluctance in controlling irregularities in rural civic body polls in the state.

In his petition, Adhikari alleged that despite the Calcutta High Court’s clear observation that only the state election commission is responsible for any event of violence over the rural civic body polls, there had not been initiative on part of the commission in following the instruction of the court true to its spirit.

The LoP also argued that the state election commissioner is answerable in the matter. Till the filing of the report, there was no reaction from either the state election commissioner or from the ruling Trinamool Congress. However, the state leadership of BJP has welcomed the development.