WB Panchayat Poll: The West Bengal government and the State Election Commission jointly moved the Supreme Court on Saturday against the Calcutta High Court order on the deployment of central forces during the panchayat polls.
According to sources in the commission, the decision was taken after a meeting with senior officials of the commission and the legal advisors of the government on Friday.
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the SEC to seek and deploy central forces across West Bengal for panchayat elections in the state within 48 hours.
The High Court reprimanded the Election Commission
A division bench headed by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam had directed the SEC to follow up necessary orders for all districts affected by the violence for the panchayat elections to be held on July 8. During the course of hearing, it was observed that no appreciable steps have been taken since the order was passed on 13th June. The Election Commission was also reprimanded for this.
West Bengal State Election Commission has moved to Supreme Court to challenge the Calcutta High Court’s order regarding the deployment of central forces in panchayat elections.
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Shubhendu and Adhir Ranjan had filed a petition
Opposition leaders, including BJP’s Shubhendu Adhikari and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, had approached the court requesting deployment of central forces to ensure peaceful elections. He cited instances of widespread violence during the municipal elections in 2022 and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in 2021 as the basis for his petition.
Meanwhile, violence continued in various parts of West Bengal during the process of filing nominations. The nomination process started on June 9, which ended on June 15. On June 15, three people were killed during the violence at different places. Opposition parties including BJP, Congress and CPI(M) have blamed the ruling TMC for the violence.
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