Calcutta HC Reserves Judgment In BJP's Plea Alleging Large Scale Violence During WB Municipal Polls

The Calcutta High Court on Monday reserved judgment in Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)'s petition alleging that large scale violence and rigging of votes took place during the recently conducted municipal elections in West Bengal. The petition also sought for deployment of central forces for the remaining 108 municipalities which is scheduled to take place on February 27.Elections to four municipal corporations – Siliguri, Bidhannagar, Asansol and Chandernagore took place on February 12. Polls to these four municipal corporations were postponed at the instructions of the High Court considering the spike in COVID-19 infections a couple of weeks ago. A Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Monday took on record the affidavits-in-opposition filed by the State Election Commission (SEC) and the State government. The reply filed by the BJP was also taken on record. The Bench further observed pursuant to the submissions of the parties, "We will consider it, we are reserving orders"Confidence reposed in SEC has been belied: BJP In the plea filed by BJP, a host of directions were prayed for with respect to the elections of the remaining 108 municipalities- deployment of central forces, effective CCTV surveillance, establishment of an independent and impartial Observer, verification of photo identity cards before entry into polling booths, making the State Election Commissioner personally responsible if violence takes place. Additionally, the plea seeks cancellation of the elections that took place on February 12.Senior advocate Paramjit Patwalia appearing for BJP submitted before the Court that it is evident that a completely free and fair elections were not possible in the first phase of the municipal polls. He referred to the decision of the Court dated February 10 wherein the Court had instructed the SEC to do a reappraisal of the ground situation pertaining to the elections of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. Accordingly, he contended that the confidence reposed in the SEC has been belied. The Court was further apprised that many BJP candidates were unable to file their nomination papers for the elections to the remaining municipal polls. The senior counsel further contended that goons in cahoots with police authorities had prevented people from filing nominations. It was also contended that one candidate's car was horribly attacked while going to file nomination papers. At this point, the Chief Justice remarked, "Please disclose who all have been prevented from filing nomination papers..chart does not contain names of candidates". In response the senior counsel mentioned that he would file an affidavit containing the names of the aggrieved candidates. He also referred to candidate Rakesh Majumdar who had allegedly been prevented from filing his nomination papers. "I am asking your Lordships to take a holistic view to supplement state forces with central forces, independent observers so that there is free and fair elections", the senior counsel remarked further. In this regard, the Chief Justice further questioned, "Are there judgments where Court has initially itself assessed the ground situation?" The Chief Justice further referred to the judgment in Basabi Raichoudhury v. State of West Bengal wherein a Coordinate Bench of the Court had ruled that decisions in this regard must be left to the discretion of the SEC. In response, the senior counsel placed reliance on the Supreme Court judgment in All India Trinamool Congress v. State of Tripura the Apex Court had directed for the deployment of Central Armed Police Force(CAPF) personnel for the local body elections in Tripura. He further stated that the dictum in Basabi Raichoudhury v. State of West Bengal was specific to the facts of that case and that the Court had noted that sufficient material had not been placed on record which is not the case in the instant proceedings. The Court was further apprised that police authorities were not accepting complaints from the BJP candidates and that the SEC has been acting in a partisan manner. Referring to the response of the SEC filed on record the senior counsel further averred, "Their response is that there are no complaints..I have filed those complaints on record".He further contended that the SEC had permitted the implementation of various State government schemes such as "Duare Sarkar" (government at doorsteps) and "Paray Samadhan" (resolve issues at locality) in the municipalities wherein elections are ongoing in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The Court was also apprised that votes had been cast in the name of deceased persons and a female BJP worker had also been mercilessly beaten up. The senior counsel also took exception to the fact that senior advocate Jayanta Mitra appearing for the SEC on the last date of hearing had placed reliance on the newspaper report of Jago Bangla which he contended was a 'mouthpiece of the TMC'. Reliance was placed on the...

Calcutta HC Reserves Judgment In BJP's Plea Alleging Large Scale Violence During WB Municipal Polls

Aaratrika Bhaumik

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