Field Central forces for Bengal local body polls: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court has ordered that the West Bengal State Election Commission “should and shall requisition central forces to work in tandem with State police to ensure free and fair elections” to the panchayat in the State.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered that the West Bengal State Election Commission ( WBSEC) “should and shall requisition central forces to work in tandem with State police to ensure free and fair elections” to the panchayat in the State. The High Court, however, refused to make changes to the panchayat election schedule in the State announced by the WBSEC on June 8. Elections to about 63,239 seats at gram panchayat level, 9730 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats are scheduled for July 8.

The High Court’s orders follow petitions filed by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The High Court also set aside the prayer that a retired High Court Judge should be appointed as observer to the polls. The WBSEC was also told not to deploy civic police volunteers.

While observing that the ultimate decision to deploy central forces will be made by the WBSEC a division bench of Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said that central forces will be deployed in areas marked sensitive by the Commission in its report submitted to the High Court. In the report submitted to the Court on June 12, the WBSEC has marked seven of the 22 districts of the State as sensitive.

The division bench asked for an immediate requisitioning of central forces by the WBSEC, in the first instance for all the areas which have been declared sensitive. “Thereafter SEC( WBSEC) shall review the assessment plan submitted by the State and wherever there is inadequacy the SEC will requisition paramilitary force,” the Court said. It also directed that charges for the deployment of central forces shall be borne by the Centre and no part of it will be charged to the State government. The Court’s order led to frantic activity at the WBSEC and Home Secretary B.P. Gopalika met State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha later in the evening. 

Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the order and said the Court clearly did not trust the State police. Senior Advocate and Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee who represented the State government during the hearing of petitions said that many of the prayers made by Suvendu Adhikari in the petitions have been set aside by the Court.

Bhangar on the boil