Morcha PIL for Bimal election bar ........ The Morcha alleged that the poll panel has not deleted the names of Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri as president and secretary

TT, 9 March 2019, Calcutta: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) filed a plea in Calcutta High Court on Friday seeking a directive to the Election Commission not to allow former chief Bimal Gurung and confidant Roshan Giri to contest the Lok Sabha polls on the party’s symbol.

The Morcha has alleged that even after repeated requests, the poll panel has not deleted the names of Gurung and Giri as president and secretary, respectively. Justice Debangshu Basak will hear the case on March 11, said sources.

The EC had registered the Morcha as a political party on March 17, 2008, the petition says. Gurung and Giri were elected president and secretary in the party in 2007.

“According to norms, (Morcha) executive body elections to appoint office bearers should be held every five years. Though this was due in 2012, Gurung and Giri represented themselves as president and secretary, respectively, to the Election Commission without holding such elections,” the petition claims.

In 2017, the hills went into turmoil over the statehood agitation and on December 23 that year, the central committee of the Morcha elected Binay Tamang as the new president and Anit Thapa as the new secretary, the plea says.

“But earlier on November 2017, in a letter to the Election Commission, Gurung had informed that party members had re-elected him as president and Giri as secretary. However, after being elected as secretary in December 2017, Anit Thapa had informed the Election Commission that Gurung had provided false information,” the petition said.

On April 1, 2018, the general body election of the party was held, in which Tamang and Thapa were re-elected president and secretary of the party. “The party’s decision was soon communicated to the Election Commission,” the petition claims.

“Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri through repeated press releases and posts on social media claim they are still in the posts,” said a source.

Additional input by Vivek Chhetri in Darjeeling