Supreme Court refuses to entertain BJP Birbhum Candidate Debashish Dhar's plea against cancellation of nomination

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Synopsis

 In Dhar's place, the BJP has nominated senior party leader Debtanu Bhattacharya, who has filed his candidature papers 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain former IPS Officer Debasish Dhar's plea against the cancellation of his candidature by the district election office on Friday, April 26.

Dhar, who is BJP's pick for West Bengal’s Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency, candidature has been cancelled citing technical grounds.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Vishwanathan said today that it was not inclined to do anything as any interference at this stage would mean stalling the election process.

The bench also refused to accept the submission of any prejudice by the returning officer against Dhar. Court accordingly allowed, Senior Advocate Nidhesh Gupta, to file a petition before the Election Commission.

A Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud led bench was told yesterday that it was the last day for filing nominations.

"Send an email, we will look at it", the bench also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had said in response.

Dhar called the reasons cited by the election officer to be 'baseless'.

The election in Birbhum is scheduled for May 13, with TMC’s Satabdi Roy as the candidate against BJP.

Case Title: Debashish Dhar vs. ECI