Calcutta High Court Rebukes West Bengal Government and SEC for Non-Cooperation with Central Government in West Bengal Panchayat Election, Hindering Efforts to Prevent Violence
The Calcutta High Court strongly criticized the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission (SEC) for their lack of cooperation with the Central government in deploying central forces during the recently held panchayat polls on July 8 [Suvendu Adhikari vs Rajiv Sinha, State Election Commissioner].
During the hearing, the division bench, consisting of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Uday Kumar, expressed dissatisfaction with the SEC's failure to provide information on sensitive constituencies requiring additional security measures to prevent violence.
The court observed that the SEC and the State government did not share a proper deployment plan with the central government's force coordinator responsible for overseeing the deployment of central forces in the state.
The Chief Justice remarked that numerous court orders were issued to ensure peaceful polling and counting, and emphasized that either the SEC must cooperate or allow the Force Coordinator to make decisions regarding the deployment of forces, to which both the SEC and the State must adhere.
The bench stated that the existing deployment plan was inadequate and ordered that the Central Government's Force Coordinator would decide on the deployment of forces for the next 10 days. The Force Coordinator would consult with the Director General of Police (DGP), Chief Secretary, and State Force Coordinator to formulate an appropriate deployment plan.
The Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Ashoke Kumar Chakraborty, presented a report prepared by the central government's force coordinator during the hearing. The report highlighted the lack of cooperation and support from the SEC and state authorities, particularly in providing information on sensitive booths and constituencies.
The bench expressed displeasure with the SEC's conduct and stated that if the contents of the report were true, it would amount to willful disobedience of the court's orders by the SEC.
The Chief Justice emphasized that if the report's claims were accurate, it reflected a sorry state of affairs and raised serious concerns. The bench noted that the SEC had not fulfilled the court's directive to work in tandem with the Central government, which was a matter of grave concern.
The bench ordered the SEC and the State to submit their responses to the central government's report by July 19. The matter will be heard again on July 26.
TAGS: West Bengal panchayat election Calcutta High Court SEC State non-cooperation Central government violence deployment sensitive constituencies force coordinator orders wilful disobedience report hearing response July 19 July 26.
