Panchayat Elections: Calcutta High Court Seeks Report On Alleged Poll Violence; Orders Treatment Of Injured, Support For Last Rites Of Deceased

The Calcutta High Court on Monday called for reports on the scale of alleged violence during polling for the West Bengal Panchayat Elections 2023 on July 8. It was also submitted by the petitioner, backed by several intervenors, that the violence had indeed led to an announcement for re-polls, but the re-polling figure of 696 seats submitted by the State Election Commission was a “mockery” of the process and that it was only being used as an exercise to deviate the attention away from the fact that numerous polling stations estimated to be covering over 50,000 seats, had seen illegal activities such as ballot-box tampering, booth-capturing, etc. The Court upon hearing these submissions opined: “It goes without saying that the handbook of procedure, which was published for the Returning Officers is scrupulously followed and the area around the counting centres must be cordoned off so that the sympathisers and the members of the various political parties do not crowd near the counting centres.” In dealing with the prayer for deployment of additional central forces, the Bench was of the opinion that such a question had been dealt with and addressed in numerous petitions before the Court, and hence no further orders could be passed pertaining to the same. The Court opined: “This report would be of significance because it is a submission of the petitioner appearing in person as well as the intervenors that there has been large scale rigging of the elections in various booths spread over the State and instances have been given in respect of four districts and the copy of the e-mail sent to the State Election Commission has been handed over to the learned senior advocate appearing for the State Election Commission. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya Case: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury V. The West Bengal State Election Commission & Ors Wpa 351 of 2023 Click Here To Read/Download Order