Calcutta High Court seeks definite plan to hold violence-free panchayat polls from State Election Commission

 Apparently dissatisfied with SEC, court sought short report on poll arrangements in form of affidavit from SEC on July 3

Tapas Ghosh, TT, Calcutta, 29.06.23 : Calcutta High Court on Wednesday told the State Election Commission to have a definite plan in place to hold violence-free panchayat polls.

Apparently dissatisfied with the SEC, the court sought a short report on poll arrangements in the form of an affidavit from the SEC on July 3.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam passed the order while hearing a contempt petition moved by the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, accusing the SEC of not carrying out the court's directives.

Chief Justice Sivagnanam asked the commission's lawyer to tell the state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha "to take proper steps for the satisfaction of common voters."

The Chief Justice said: "The commission will have to inform whether orders of the court were complied with properly. The SEC should ask district magistrates to file reports on the poll arrangements in their respective districts and should tell what they want to do to make the poll free from violence."

SEC lawyer Kishore Datta told the bench that obeying the court's directives, his client had sought 800 companies of central forces. "But till date, 315 companies of forces have been received. The Centre is not informing the commission about the rest of the forces," Datta said.

At this, Ashok Chakraborty, the lawyer appearing for the Centre, alleged the state could not specify the deployment strategy for the central forces. "It has not yet been disclosed whether the forces will be used inside the booth or outside.... The state is yet to inform where the forces will stay," he said.

Datta countered: "Everything has been told. I don't know why the Centre is making such an allegation."

The bench held a communication gap between the state and the Centre on the issue. The Chief Justice suggested a meeting could be arranged to discuss it. "The commission will have to decide how many closed-circuit cameras are needed and accordingly place the requisition," he said

Datta claimed his client knew the fact.

After hearing both sides, the Chief Justice directed the commission to file an affidavit on July 3 stating details of its plan and arrangements for a violence-free poll.

The Chief Justice advised the SEC to prepare a report on the basis of those from district magistrates.

Earlier in the day, commissioner Sinha visited the high court to sign papers related to cases filed by Opposition parties against the SEC.

Sinha told the media that he sought 800 companies of central forces from the Centre of which 315 companies had reached the state. "I hope that the rest of the forces will be sent in the coming days," Sinha said. He also said that no meeting was held yet to decide if the rural polls would be held in phases. "Till date, it is fixed that polling will be held on one day (July 8)," Sinha said.

NHRC appeal

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday filed an appeal before a bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of the high court to challenge an order passed by Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, who held the rights body did not have the power to send observers to rural polls here.