The Calcutta high court on Tuesday withdrew an interim order that protected Jahangir Khan— the defeated Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate from Falta in South 24 Parganas district– from police action in criminal cases he faces, lawyers who attended the hearing said.
“Justice Partha Sarathi Sen withdrew the interim protection granted to Khan on May 18, days before the May 21 Falta bypoll, and allowed the state to proceed with investigations in seven criminal cases registered at Falta police station,” a lawyer said, requesting anonymity.
Khan’s lawyers argued that the charges were the fallout of a political vendetta following the TMC’s defeat in the assembly polls.
The state’s additional solicitor general, Rajdeep Majumdar said the protection was granted only to let Khan contest the May 21 repoll. Majumdar said the police should be allowed to start the investigations since the results were declared on May 24.
“Justice Sen observed that Khan cannot be allowed to enjoy legal protection,” the lawyer said.
The Falta assembly seat has around 225,000 voters, of whom around 165,000 are Hindus.
The repoll was ordered because a large section of Hindu voters alleged on April 29, the day of the scheduled election, that Khan and his men prevented them from casting ballots in any election.
The complaints were registered under charges of arson, assault, criminal intimidation and attempt to murder.
Khan’s brother-in-law was arrested days before the repoll based on the charges, however Khan could not be arrested due to court’s interim order.
Khan, who triggered a row in the TMC by announcing 48 hours before the repoll that he was stepping out of the race, went missing when the results were announced on May 24. His house at Falta was found locked.
The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the repoll by a record margin of 109,021 vote— the highest among all 294 seats in Bengal. The TMC came in fourth with only 7,783 votes, losing its electoral deposit for the first time since 2011, when it topped the Left Front government and began its three-term rule.
At the end of counting, BJP candidate Debangshu Panda secured 149,666 votes. CPI(M)’s Sambhu Nath Kurmi and Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla came second and third in the race with 40,645 and 10,084 votes, respectively.
