Rejecting the petitions filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the CPM challenging the West Bengal Panchayat polls, the Supreme Court Friday said the challenge must be pursued through election petitions instead. The top court also underlined that the charges of obstruction of elections is a serious matter. The pleas have sought cancellation of panchayat polls in over 20,000 uncontested seats. All these uncontested seats were won unopposed by candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties had alleged that their candidates were obstructed from filing nomination papers. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud exercised its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution and held that the limitation period of 30 days for filing the election petitions, which has expired, would now commence from the date of notification of panchayat poll results. The apex court also set aside a Calcutta High Court order allowing e-filing, through WhatsApp or e-mail, of nominations in the panchayat polls in the state. it said, adding, . Reacting to the order, Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said, On August 13, the Supreme Court had termed the situation as and asked West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) whether it had done any exercise to find out if candidates were prevented from filing nominations in seats which were won unopposed in the recent local