HC orders poll panel to deploy central forces across Bengal within 48 hours for panchayat elections
KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the state election commission to deploy central forces across the state within 48 hours for the panchayat elections slated to be held on July 8 amid violence during the filing of nominations.
Bullets were fired on the last day for filing nominations on Thursday in which two persons allegedly were killed. The government, however, is yet to confirm the two deaths officially.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the Trinamool Congress was not involved in any violence. She held the Indian Secular Force (ISF), a political outfit floated ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, and the CPI(M) responsible for the violence.
“Our party is not involved in any violence. In Bhangar, it is the ISF and in Chopra, North Dinajpur, CPI(M) is responsible for what happened on Thursday,” she said.
One person was allegedly shot dead in Chopra when CPI(M) and Congress supporters were marching towards the office of the local block development officer for filing the nomination. “TMC supporters assembled on the road attacked our supporters and opened fire in which one of our supporters were killed and two others received injuries,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.
In a similar incident in Bhangar, South 24 Parganas, a 24-year-old youth was allegedly shot dead and the local ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, the lone legislator of the party, claimed the deceased was a supporter of his party.
During the hearing in the Calcutta High Court, Kalyan Banerjee, the lawyer of the state poll panel, said the election commission asked for police personnel from other states and submitted that there was no need for the deployment of central forces on the occasion of panchayat elections in the state.
The division bench comprising Justice TS Shivagnanam and Justice Uday Kumar, which was hearing the petition filed by opposition parties, noted that a direction of deploying central forces in sensitive areas, identified by the state poll panel, was passed on Tuesday but no appreciable steps were taken in this regard.
While the state election commission submitted that it may take a couple of days to identify sensitive areas from the law and order point of view, the court observed that taking more time would only cause more damage and would not help the “purity of the election process”.
The poll panel was thus directed to immediately requisition the deployment of central forces within 48 hours of the court’s judgement for all districts in West Bengal. The costs for the central force’s deployment would be borne by the central government and no cost would be charged from the state government, the court mentioned in its order.