West Bengal: HC orders central forces for WB rural poll, Opp sceptical of SEC's impartiality, TMC confident of win

The state's three-tier panchayat election encompassing a significant electorate of approximately 5.67 crores, will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats.

Kolkata (West Bengal): Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the requisition and deployment of central forces for the July 8 West Bengal panchayat polls but refused to consider the plea for extending the time for filing of nominations and left it to the discretion of State Election Commission.

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam directed the SEC to requisition central forces to work in tandem with the state police for the three-tier rural poll. The court made it clear that the prayer for an extension of time for filing of nominations, the last date of which is June 15, cannot be considered.

The bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, said the discretion to extend the time for filing nominations lies entirely with the SEC and that it is competent to take a decision on the matter. The bench directed that in the first instance, the requisition and deployment of central forces be done in areas and districts that have been declared sensitive by the poll panel.

"Thereafter, the SEC shall review the assessment plan submitted by the state and wherever there is inadequacy of state police force, in all such areas, the SEC shall requisition the deployment of paramilitary forces," it said. The State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha said he is yet to receive a copy of the order. "We will study and inform you when we receive the order. We have taken action on incidents of vandalism. No district has been declared as sensitive," he told reporters.

The court's order evoked mixed responses, with the opposition BJP, Congress and CPI(M) welcoming it but expressing scepticism on the impartiality of the SEC), accusing it of acting as a "frontal organisation" of the ruling TMC. The TMC did not comment on the court's order but expressed confidence in securing victory, citing the success of the 2013 panchayat polls when too central forces were deployed.

The state's three-tier panchayat election encompassing a significant electorate of approximately 5.67 crores, will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats. Reacting to the court order, TMC MP Santanu Sen said "We have nothing to say about the court order. But we want to tell the opposition parties that they have nothing to rejoice as the TMC is all set to win the elections based on its developmental work in the last twelve years."

He cited the instance of the 2013 panchayat poll and subsequent electoral wins in which TMC emerged victorious despite the deployment of central forces. In the 2013 panchayat polls the TMC, then in power for two years, won over 85 per cent of the seats despite heavy deployment of central forces.

Meanwhile, the SEC held an all-party meeting on Tuesday evening regarding panchayat elections and discussed the law and order situation. The Calcutta High Court order was passed during the meeting and dominated discussions. Senior state minister Aroop Biswas, who represented TMC at the meeting, accused the opposition of trying to "flare up" violence to disturb the law and order situation of the state.

"We want peaceful elections, but the opposition parties are deliberately flaring up violence in the state. Regarding the deployment of the central forces, it is for the SEC to comment," he said. Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP state spokesperson, said, "We are happy with the court order. But we are apprehensive whether the SEC will allow proper deployment (of central forces). It is the SEC and the state police that will work on deploying central forces."

Senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya emphasised the need for extending the deadline for filing nominations citing the overwhelming number of seats to cover in just seven days. "The SEC should not behave as if it is only TMC that is contesting the elections. The SEC must create a level playing field for all parties," he said.

Similar concerns were echoed by CPI (M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, who urged the SEC to behave as a constitutional body and questioned the feasibility of filling the remaining nomination seats in such a short period. In the rural polls held five years ago, the TMC won 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all 22 zilla parishads.

However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices and the opposition parties alleged that they were prevented from filing nominations in a number of seats across the state. Incidents of clashes have been reported in various parts of the state for the past few days as miscreants allegedly attacked opposition candidates when they were on their way to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls.