A number of Trinamool Congress candidates, their election agents, and even Kolkata Municipal Corporation councillors are now rushing to court to either obtain stays on or secure anticipatory bail in criminal cases in which they have been named in First Information Reports.
Massive Legal Moves by Party Workers
A senior Trinamool functionary said around 50 party candidates, their polling agents, KMC councillors, and party office-bearers engaged in campaigning had moved court individually. More than a score of Trinamool activists in Behala, including the party candidate for Behala West, Ratna Chatterjee, and her election agent, P K Bag, heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday.
Court Stay Provides Temporary Relief
An Alipore district judge stayed an order for the execution of a bond for maintaining peace until May 22, said Gopal Halder, Chatterjee's advocate. "Trinamool functionaries and workers cannot be harassed until the polls are over," Halder said. He pointed out that they were obtaining stays for Trinamool members in phases and "some more workers would benefit from this court stay soon." He said Ratna obtained an anticipatory bail, too, as she was named an accused in an FIR in a case in which several co-accused were arrested for allegedly attacking a BJP party office.
Election Agent Denies Criminal Record
Bag said he was a businessman with no criminal record but because he was an election agent, he was being harassed. KMC Member-in-Council Tarak Singh said, "Trinamool functionaries and workers were unnecessarily harassed by the Election Commission. The High Court division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen on Wednesday stayed police proceedings against 800 Trinamool workers, including my son and me. The list of 800 people included only Trinamool leaders, MPs, MLAs, and councillors. It shows bias on the part of the EC. There is no criminal record against me or my son, yet the EC wanted to harass us for being in Trinamool."
