After observing law-and-order issues, the Calcutta high court had ordered the deployment of central paramilitary troops in seven critical districts as well as other regions of the state to hold free and fair panchayat elections. The ban was issued in response to allegations of intermittent violence over nomination filing that began on June 9 and persisted through June 15. On July 8, panchayat elections are slated to take place.
The WBSEC filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Saturday contesting the Calcutta High Court ruling. The state election commission’s actions go against what newly appointed state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha said about adhering to the high court’s judgement.
The deployment of central forces may be supervised by the high court. You ask the high court for more time, the bench said. The counsel responded by saying, “We have approached against the order of June 13 and please take it tomorrow.”
The state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, had already questioned the decision to send in federal troops, saying that similar troops had already been dispatched to Manipur, where violence has continued.
On the other hand, the state’s opposition parties attacked the WBSEC’s decision to challenge the high court’s ruling when it claimed that the Centre would be responsible for paying the deployment costs rather than the state government.
Since the panchayat elections were announced, seven persons have died. Late on Saturday night, a BJP employee was discovered dead in the state’s Cooch Behar district. The party worker, Shambhu Das, belonged to a candidate’s family.
Around 20 people were killed during the most recent panchayat elections in 2018, which were marked by widespread violence. Opposition parties claim that their candidates were harassed and prevented from filing nominations. 90% of the seats were won by the TMC, 34% of which were uncontested.
Written By- Aditya Singh, College Name- Army Law College, Pune, Semester- 2nd Semester Student an Intern under Legal Vidhya
0 Comments