'Period Of 4-6 Weeks Was Only Suggestive': Calcutta High Court Dismisses Contempt Petition Against SEC Regarding Postponement Of 4 Civic Polls

The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a contempt petition filed against the State Election Commission (SEC) alleging that it had failed to comply with an earlier order of the Court directing the SEC to consider postponing elections to four municipal corporations for a short period of 4 to 6 weeks in the wake of the rising number of Covid-19 cases. 

The Court vide order dated January 14 had directed the SEC to consider postponing the conduct of the upcoming municipal elections in Siliguri, Chandernagore, Bidhannagar and Asansol for a short period of 4 to 6 weeks in the wake of the 'galloping speed with which the COVID cases are increasing' in the State of West Bengal.

Thereafter, the State Election Commission had decided to postpone the date of election by 3 weeks and had notified that elections to the four municipal corporation would take place on February 12. 

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj in its order dated February 7 which was uploaded in the high court website on Wednesday observed, 

"The period of 4 to 6 weeks mentioned in the order was only suggestive leaving it upon to the State Election Commission to take a decision in this regard within a time bound period..Having regard to the nature of the order passed by this Court and considering the fact that there was no positive direction in the order of this Court, we are of the opinion that there is no deliberate non-compliance or violation of the order of this Court by the respondents herein, hence no case for initiating the contempt proceedings is made out."

The Court underscored that it had not issued any positive direction to postpone the elections for a particular period of time, but had merely directed the State Election Commission to consider the speed of increasing COVID cases and also take into account the issue of free and fair election and public interest in holding the elections in such a situation.

"The period of 4 to 6 weeks mentioned in the order was only suggestive leaving it upon to the State Election Commission to take a decision in this regard within a time bound period. Thereafter, the Election Commission took a decision to postpone the dates of elections by 3 weeks and has now appointed 12th of February, 2022 as the date of polling", the Court observed further. 

During the hearing, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya appearing for the petitioner had submitted that by the aforementioned order the SEC had been directed to postpone the elections for 4 to 6 weeks, however, they had violated the order of the Court by postponing the elections for only 3 weeks.

Dismissing such a contention, the Court disposed of the contempt petition. 

Case Title: Bimal Bhattacharya v. State of West Bengal 

Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Cal) 34.

Click Here To Read/Download Order