The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the requisition and deployment of central forces for the West Bengal panchayat elections to be held on July 8. Extension of time for filing nomination, refusal to consider prayer in this regard.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam directed the SEC to seek central forces to work in tandem with the police force of West Bengal for the rural elections. The 2013 panchayat elections in the state, for the first time after the Mamata Banerjee government came to power, were held with the deployment of central forces.
The High Court made it clear that the prayer for extension of time for filing nominations cannot be entertained, the last date of which is June 15. The bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya, said that the discretion to extend the time rests entirely with the SEC, and it is competent to take a decision on the matter.
The SEC on Monday told the Calcutta High Court that it may extend the last date for filing nominations for the panchayat polls in West Bengal by a day to June 16. The elections were held in areas and districts declared sensitive by the panel.
“Subsequently, the SEC will review the assessment plan submitted by the state and wherever there is inadequacy of the state police force, the SEC will seek deployment of paramilitary forces in all such areas,” it said. The commission has also been asked to install CCTV cameras at all polling stations and where it is not technically possible, videography of the entire process from enrollment to counting of votes should be done.
Rejecting the request for appointment of a retired judge as an observer for the panchayat elections, the court noted that the commission has a provision to appoint observers, who will be officers of the state government, to look into the conduct of the elections. The SEC, in a report before the court on Monday, said it appoints observers from among senior state civil service and IAS officers.
The petitioners had prayed for the deployment of central forces to ensure peaceful elections, claiming that the state had witnessed large-scale violence during the municipal elections in 2022 and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in 2021. The court noted that the SEC has identified several districts on preliminary assessment. as sensitive. The poll panel had identified seven such districts in the report.
The bench noted that the total number of seats for which elections are to be held is more than 75,000 and in view of past incidents in the state, on more than 12 occasions the High Court had to intervene, direct the deployment of central forces or transfer Done. “We are of the view that the SEC should seek the deployment of central forces to work in tandem with the police force of West Bengal to ensure free and fair elections.”
The high court said that the fee for such deployment would be borne by the central government. The bench also declined the request to allow filing of nominations at the office of the District Magistrates, with the prayer claiming lack of security at the BDO offices where these are designated for filing. The bench said that if contractual employees are to be deployed for election duty, they should be given less responsibilities than those assigned to polling officers selected from Group D employees.
Stating that the security of election officials is of paramount importance to the SEC, the court said that the requisition and direction for deployment of central forces would adequately ensure their security. It states that wherever central forces are not deployed, it will be the responsibility of the state police to ensure the security of the polling personnel. Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the state government, said that 15 battalions of police personnel have been called from other states.
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