Breaking | WB Panchayat Elections: Calcutta High Court Directs State Election Commission To Requisition Central Forces For All Districts Within 48 Hours

A division bench of Chief Justice Sivagnaman and Justice Uday Kumar passed the order in a plea filed by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari.

The bench noted that a direction for earmarking sensitive areas and deploying forces was passed on Tuesday but no appreciable steps were taken in this regard.

While the Commission submitted that it may take a couple of days to identify sensitive areas from law and order point of view, the Court observed that takin more time would only cause more damage and would not help the “purity of the election process.”

The SEC was thus directed to immediately requisition the deployment of central forces within 48 hours of the Court’s judgement for all districts in West Bengal. The costs for the same would be borne by the central government and no costs would be charged from the State of West Bengal.

Court said the direction is required bearing in mind the electorate, the people of West Bengal, who will exercise their franchise in the ensuing election. 

During the hearing, the State had argued no particular instance of alleged violence is mentioned in the petition and urged that the Court cannot pass any orders based on vague allegations. The Court however observed,

"The present public interest litigation is a sequel to the earlier set of public interest litigations which were disposed of by a common order dated 13.06.2023. We find that the directions issued in the said order are yet to be complied with. The petitioner in the public interest litigation seeks to focus on the consequences which have occurred on account of non-compliance of the directions issued in the earlier order and seeks for additional relief in the aid of the decision taken by the court in the earlier set of writ petitions. Therefore, in our view, the Court is well justified in entertaining the public interest litigation and considering the matter in a wholesome perspective."

Further, it was also directed that the SEC ask its election officers to display their identity cards and whenever called upon, prove their identity during the election process. With these observations, the Writ petition was disposed of.

Case title: SUVENDU ADHIKARI AND ANR VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS WPA(P)/298/2023

Coram: Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnaman and Justice Uday Kumar

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Cal) 162

Click Here To Read Order