Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who sought a stay on the announcement of panchayat polls till the electoral roll was revised.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj declined to interfere in the process of polls. The ruling of the bench came after it accepted the state government's submission that the court does not have jurisdiction over the election.

Adhikari in his petition alleged that the State Election Commission was planning to hold rural polls on the basis of the 2021 voters' list. He specifically alleged that the OBC reservation of seats had been done inappropriately at the behest of Trinamul.

His counsel said the commission did not prepare the voters list on the basis of a door-to-door survey. It was also alleged that free and fair poll was not possible on the basis of an old voters' list. The petition prayed for an order directing the state poll panel not to announce election dates before the electoral roll was updated.

S.N. Mukherjee, the advocate-general for the state, claimed the state poll panel organised from time to time elaborate campaigns requesting new voters to get their names enrolled and many had responded.

The division bench, after the first hearing of the case, issued an interim order restraining the SEC from announcing the poll dates before the case was disposed of.

On Tuesday, the division bench revoked its interim order. The state poll panel will now have no bar on announcing panchayat poll dates.