Bengal Panchayat Polls: Supreme Court To Hear Plea Against Deployment Of Central Forces Due To Violence

The Calcutta HC order to deploy central forces was delivered in the wake of several incidents of violence in the run up to the panchayat elections.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear a plea challenging a Calcutta High Court order, which directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to deploy central forces across West Bengal for the July 8 panchayat elections. Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, representing the SEC, had earlier sought an urgent hearing before a vacation bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Surya Kant and M M Sundresh, reported news agency PTI.

Arora informed the court that the appeal against the order was filed on June 16 but had not been taken up for hearing. The Calcutta High Court on June 15 ordered the SEC to facilitate the deployment of central armed forces across West Bengal within 48 hours. The order was delivered in the wake of several incidents of violence in the run up to the panchayat elections. The order came after the court observed that no significant actions had been taken following its previous order on June 13 to deploy central forces in sensitive areas during the nomination process, which had witnessed violence.

Considering the lack of progress in identifying "sensitive areas" from a law and order perspective and the SEC's statement that it would require more time, the high court expressed concern about further exacerbation of the situation. The court emphasized the need to safeguard the integrity of the election process and directed the central government to deploy the necessary central forces, with the Union government covering the cost and no expenses being charged to the state.

The high court had previously directed the immediate requisition and deployment of central forces in areas and districts identified as sensitive by the SEC. The SEC was also instructed to review the state's assessment plan and deploy paramilitary forces wherever the state police force was deemed inadequate.

Opposition leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress party, had approached the court, requesting the deployment of central forces to ensure peaceful elections. They highlighted the large-scale violence witnessed during the 2022 municipal elections and the 2021 Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections. Additionally, they sought an extension of the nomination deadline, citing inadequate time. The court entrusted the decision regarding the extension to the SEC.