KOLKATA: The West Bengal government and the State Election Commission (SEC) have filed four special leave petitions (SLP) separately in the Supreme Court challenging a Calcutta HC division bench order directing the poll panel to requisition central forces for all districts for the July 8 panchayat polls.
The state and the SEC will mention the SLPs in the Supreme Court on Monday and plead for an urgent hearing. Petitioners Suvendu Adhikari of BJP and Adhir Chowdhury of Congress, who had moved the Calcutta HC seeking deployment of central paramilitary forces in the state, will contest the plea as respondents.
The state and the SEC have argued in their petitions that the HC passed its order on the basis of media reports and that the poll panel had declared certain districts as “sensitive” based on its assessment of specific polling booths. The SEC has also pointed out that there is no provision under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2023 to identify sensitive districts and that the law provides that the identification of sensitive booths be made by the SEC in consultation with the state.
A HC division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya had on June 13 directed the SEC to requisition central forces to work in tandem with the state police, particularly in districts that the poll panel had declared “sensitive”.
The state and the SEC will mention the SLPs in the Supreme Court on Monday and plead for an urgent hearing. Petitioners Suvendu Adhikari of BJP and Adhir Chowdhury of Congress, who had moved the Calcutta HC seeking deployment of central paramilitary forces in the state, will contest the plea as respondents.
The state and the SEC have argued in their petitions that the HC passed its order on the basis of media reports and that the poll panel had declared certain districts as “sensitive” based on its assessment of specific polling booths. The SEC has also pointed out that there is no provision under the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 2023 to identify sensitive districts and that the law provides that the identification of sensitive booths be made by the SEC in consultation with the state.
A HC division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya had on June 13 directed the SEC to requisition central forces to work in tandem with the state police, particularly in districts that the poll panel had declared “sensitive”.