Tag: Communist Party of India

HC dismisses PIL seeking deregistration of CPI(M)

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New Delhi: .The Delhi High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking deregistration of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), after it was told that the petitioner had suppressed his political affiliation.

“You (petitioner) are guilty of suppression of material facts. You failed to disclose your political affiliation. You should have disclosed it and said that despite your affiliation, you want to place the issue before the court. You should meet your case head-on,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

The court said the suppression of his political affiliation by the petitioner, who claimed to be a social worker, was sufficient to “non-suit” him and dismiss his petition.
The order came after the lawyer appearing for the CPI(M) told the court that the petitioner was affiliated to BJP and had suppressed the fact when filing the petition.
The lawyer said the petitioner, Jojo Jose, was using the matter for gaining political mileage.

The petitioner, in his plea, had sought quashing of the Election Commission’s September 1989 order granting registration to the CPI(M).
The petitioner had sought deregistration of CPI(M) on the ground that the party’s constitution allegedly did not contain the provision of true allegiance to Constitution as mandated by the law.
He had alleged that the main objective of the CPI(M) was unconstitutional and it was formed for an unlawful purpose.

Calcutta High Court asks CPI(M) to produce documents of those who failed to file nominations

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The Calcutta HC on Thursday directed petitioner Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-M) to produce documents of individuals who, the party claimed, had failed to file nominations for the panchayat polls in West Bengal due to extraneous intervention.

The CPI(M) has moved the appeal before a division bench of the court, praying for allowing such candidates to file nomination for the polls through e-mail, after failing to receive a favourable order on the plea before a single bench.

On a plea by the State Election Commission (SEC) counsel that statutory provisions did not allow filing of nominations through e-mail, the division bench said the commission should not have objections to the court asking for documents from the petitioner.

The division bench of justices B Somadder and A Mukherjee said it had only asked the petitioner to submit documents in support of its claim and the SEC should not raise objections at this stage.

Claiming that intending candidates of the opposition CPI(M) were prevented by hooligans from filing nomination papers in person at the designated government offices, counsel Shamim Ahmed prayed that the court direct the commission to accept their nominations through e-mail.

The bench asked the petitioner to provide the names of the candidates who were allegedly prevented from filing nomination, documents showing that they had sent their nominations through e-mail and subsequent representations by them before the commission before the last date of nomination filing, if those were not considered.

The bench adjourned the hearing in the matter till next Monday and directed the petitioner to provide copies of the documents, if any, to the commission.

Justice Subrata Talukdar had, on April 25, disposed of the CPI(M)’s petition, observing that no orders or intervention were called for from the court at that stage.

The SEC secretary had pointed out before Justice Talukdar that the provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003 did not provide for any scope for acceptance of nominations in the manner as claimed by the petitioner, beyond the time schedule fixed by the commission for filing the papers.

The last date for filing nominations for the three-tier panchayat polls in the state was April 23, after being extended by the court.

The SEC had announced that the polls would be held on May 14, but uncertainty prevails over the date of polling with Justice Talukdar having directed that the date announced by the commission could not be treated as final and could be considered as tentative only.

The final decision on the election date will be considered by a division bench, headed by the chief justice of the high court, Justice Talukdar had said yesterday, while passing the direction on petitions filed by political parties, challenging the SEC’s decision to hold the panchayat polls on a single day.

Telangana protesters refuse to disperse

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Braving heavy rain, thousands of protesters demanding a separate Telangana state refused to leave Necklace Road here even as the deadline set by police ended Sunday evening. The marchers earlier clashed with security personnel.

Police used water cannons to disperse protesters after they squatted on the road on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake.

Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) convenor M. Kodandaram and other leaders said the protest would continue till the central government agrees to the demand for a separate state.

Police had given permission for the march from 3 p.m to 7 p.m.

Earlier, protesters set afire two police and four media vehicles and tried to attack two restaurants and a multiplex. People from the city and neighbouring districts converged on Necklace Road as tension mounted due to clashes in surrounding areas.

Holding flags of their respective parties and groups, the protesters squatted on the Buddha Bhavan-P.V. Ghat stretch. Hundreds of youngsters occupied the parallel railway track.

Raising slogans of “Jai Telangana” amid the beating of drums and singing songs by Telangana artists, men, women and children from various sections asked the central government to make Telangana a separate state.

Leaders of the JAC, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and organisations of students, employees, lawyers, women and trade unions were on the dais.

Youngsters removed barricades and clashed with police to advance towards the secretariat and other high-security areas. Police fired tear gas shells in at least three places to disperse protesters who tried to remove barricades.

Police twice arrested MPs from the ruling Congress from Telangana who staged a sit-in in front of the chief minister’s office to protest large-scale arrests of people coming to Hyderabad.

A section of state ministers from the region threatened to quit.

The cancellation of dozens of trains and buses in Telangana region and the arrests of hundreds headed to the state capital angered pro-Telangana groups, who alleged that the government was trying to suppress the movement despite giving permission for the march.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was deployed at the chief minister’s camp office in Begumpet.

Several parts of the city resembled battle zones, with police sealing off the routes around the secretariat, the chief minister’s office and other high-security areas.

Legislators of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were also arrested in front of the assembly building as they blocked traffic in support of the march.

Amid fears that properties of people from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions could be attacked, many roads were sealed off. Police chief Dinesh Reddy monitored the situation from a helicopter.

At Osmania University, students stoned police.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram condemned what he said was a government conspiracy to foil the march by cancelling trains and buses from various parts of Telangana to Hyderabad.

Another Telangana leader, N. Janardhana Reddy, threatened to disrupt the UN global biodiversity meet opening here Monday.

Plea on political donations to be heard Sep 26

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The chief information commissioner (CIC) will Sep 26 hear a plea asking political parties to give out information on donations received by them, said NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) Saturday.

The ADR approached the CIC in March 2011 as save for the Communist Party of India (CPI), no other national political party had provided information on its largest donors and the manner of such donations, said a release from the NGO.

“All national political parties, except for the CPI, declined to give the information on their largest donors,” said ADR.

It said while the CPI provided information about their largest donors, their addresses and the mode of payment of these donations other political parties either didn’t reply or simply said they did not come under the right to information (RTI), said the NGO.

The CPI said it was a public authority as the organisation was substantially financed directly or indirectly by government funds.

The Indian National Congress, however, returned the RTI letter saying that it did not come under the RTI, said the ADR.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party did not respond to the RTI application, the Nationalist Congress Party said it didn’t have enough manpower to provide the information.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist also returned the RTI application, said ADR.

The NGO said leaders of all political parties maintained that they were committed to transparency and probity in their functioning.

“These replies bring to the fore the biggest farce that our democracy is plagued with – the opaque functioning of political parties with no space for engagement with the citizens and no willingness to open themselves to public scrutiny,” said ADR.