Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the order of the Calcutta High Court to requisition Central forces for all districts in West Bengal during the Panchayat elections scheduled to be held on July 8.
Following the order, the state Election Commission has written to the Centre for requisitioning one company of Central forces for each district of Bengal.
Dismissing the petitions filed by the state of West Bengal and the State Election Commission (SEC), a vacation Bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Manoj Misra reiterated that it is the responsibility of the SEC to conduct a free and fair election.
“The fact remains that the tenor of the order of the High Court is ultimately to ensure that free and fair election is conducted the entire State of West Bengal, since the State is conducting election for local bodies on a single day and having regard to the volume of booths which are being set up. We find that the order of the HC does not call for any interference. SLP stands dismissed,” the bench observed.
The top court further asserted that no interference is needed in the orders of the high court. Central forces can be deployed in the state.
“There is no wrong in the high court’s order of deployment of Central forces in the panchayat elections,” the apex court observed.
Advocate Siddharth Agarwal, appearing for the Bengal government, submitted that the High Court went wrong in issuing a blanket direction to deploy Central forces in all districts, as if all areas are sensitive and the state police is incompetent to handle the situation.
He maintained that the polling is to take place on July 8 but the High Court directed the deployment of Central forces within 48 hours.
Justice Nagarathna claimed that the state’s move for deploying police from other states has made it clear that the state’s force is inadequate. He underlined that the high court directed that the cost of the deployment is to be borne by the Centre.
“Holding elections cannot be a license for violence and HC has seen earlier instances of violence... elections cannot be accompanied by violence.. if persons are not able to file their nominations and if they are finished off while they are going to file it then, where is the free and fair elections?“ the Justice asked.
“The Supreme Court has given an order and we have to follow it. The deployment of central forces will not affect vote results. In 2013 too, when Meera Pandey was the state election commissioner, Central forces were deployed for Panchayat polls. In successive years, Central forces were deployed in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections but that did not affect our performance. We had discussed the matter in our meeting and we can say with conviction that we will win,” senior Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy said.
On June 15, the high court directed the Commission to requisition Central forces for all districts in the state within 48 hours. The order was jointly challenged by the state government and the state poll body in the top court.