The State Election Commission has issued a directive to district magistrates, asking them to convey to victorious candidates in the panchayat polls that their fate will depend on the verdicts of petitions pending before Calcutta High Court.

The directive issued on Wednesday is being labelled “unprecedented” in some administrative circles. The directive was clearly indicative of the kind of pressure that the Rajiva Sinha-led SEC was under, said multiple sources in the state administration.

“I am further directed to request you to comply with the order of the honourable court in the matter and inform all the candidates declared elected accordingly,” said a commission official in its directive.

Earlier on Wednesday, a division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam made an observation while dealing with a clutch of petitions filed by leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and a few others in regard to the large-scale violence and the killings across Bengal during the panchayat poll process.

“The State Election Commission and the candidates declared elected in the polls will have to keep it in mind that everything will depend on the results of these three petitions and other related cases,” the Chief Justice had said.

A senior Trinamul leader said on the condition of anonymity that the matter was sub judice and, if necessary, would be addressed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself.

“This is a genuinely precarious situation, where everyone concerned is left hanging at the moment. While it is unlikely that the judiciary will countermand the entire election, as of now, we don’t know. But, of course, there is the option of moving the Supreme Court for relief should there be an adverse verdict by the high court,” he said.

Candidates of various political parties said even on Friday evening that they were yet to be informed by the district administrations officially about the commission’s directive, subsequent to the high court order.

“I am yet to be informed by the district administration, but I know about the court verdict. I am ready to sacrifice my victory if the court orders a total re-election as there were severe malpractices in the voting and counting processes,” said Tahidur Rahaman, a winner of the Congress in the Murshidabad zilla parishad.

The CPM’s Abul Hasnat, a victorious candidate of the Mayureswar 2 panchayat samiti in Birbhum, virtually echoed him.