| Date of Judgement | 20th June 2023 |
| Court | Supreme Court of India |
| Case Type | Special Leave Petition (C) Nos 12294/2023 |
| Appellant | State of West Bengal and Ors |
| Respondent | Suvendu Adhikary and Ors |
| Bench | Justice B.V. NagarathnaJustice Manoj Misra |
FACTS OF THE CASE
Panchayat Elections were announced in West Bengal on July 8 2023. Many members of the opposition parties were stopped from filing nominations for the same by the workers of ruling parties. Aggrieved by the arbitrary action on the members of other parties and seeing the inaction of police, Suvendu Adhikary, leader of opposition filed a PIL seeking the reliefs of the High Court in directing the State Election Commission to demarcate and deploy Para Military Forces in sensitive areas. The PIL also sought the relief of the High court to allow the members to file their nominations who were stopped from doing so.
Chief Justice T.S. Sivagananam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya of the Calcutta High Court took cognizance of the case and ordered the State Election Commission to identify the politically sensitive regions in the State and deploy Central para-military forces within 24 hours.
It was argued by the Commission that it would require more time to identify the sensitive areas and for the deployment of the para-military forces.
Since the previous orders were not complied with. A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court consisting of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagananam and Justice Uday Kumar took cognizance of the matter and stated that waiting any longer will cause more damage and will affect the election process. State Election Commission was ordered to deploy Central para-military forces in all the districts of the State within 48 Hours in response to another PIL filed by the Respondent. On receipt of the order the Central Government shall deploy the Central Forces at its own cost
The aforementioned orders of the Calcutta High Court were challenged by the Government of West Bengal and the West Bengal State Election Commission in the Supreme Court of India.
ISSUES
1.Was the order directing the State Government to deploy Para Military Force in all districts of the state justifiable?
2.Did the Election Commission failed to demarcate the sensitive regions due to lack of sufficient time?
ARGUMENTS
Arguments on behalf of the Petitioners:
Learned Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal argued that the order of the Division Bench to deploy para military force undermined the efficiency of the state police. It was also argued that the time limit of 48 hours wasn’t sufficient to comply with the orders. The order was passed even before the Election Commission could submit its report. He contended that the direction for requisition of the deployment of the Central Forces for all the Districts in the State of West Bengal was wholly unwarranted and it has taken away the discretion of the State, hence the aforementioned order must be revoked
Learned senior counsel Ms. Meenakshi Arora appearing for the West Bengal State Election Commission, argued the State Election Commission has no jurisdiction to order the deployment of Para Military Force.
She further argued that any grievance regarding election could be addressed by approaching the State Election Commission, which would have the authority to consider the same thus she submitted that the direction to the State Election Commission to order the deployment of Central Forces was not required at all and is beyond its jurisdiction.
Arguments Of the Respondent;
Sri Harish Salve learned Senior Counsel appearing for the respondent, Suvendu Adhikary supported and contended that this was not the first time that the High Court has issued such order.
He also argued that the previous directions of the High Court were not complied with by the State Election Commission hence it does not call for any interference in these Special Leave Petition.
JUDGEMENT
Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Hon’ble Justice Manoj Misra of the Supreme Court of India, proclaimed that it is noteworthy that members belonging to different political parties had voiced a common concern and had sought similar reliefs in the writ petitions filed before the High Court.
It was observed that the State Election Commission failed to identify the sensitive areas and as observed by the High Court, the State Election Commission had not ordered the deployment of Para Military Force.
It was held that the High Court was left with no option but to direct the State Election Commission to order the deployment of Central Para-Military forces for the entire state.
The Court referred to its previous judgements in T. N. Seshan v. Union of India to stress upon the importance of an independent body in conducting free and fair election.
Hence it was held that the High Court was not wrong in using the aforementioned orders as it was issued to conduct free and fair elections.
The Supreme Court of India hence dismissed the Petition of the Government of West Bengal and the West Bengal State Election Commission
REFERENCES
This Article is written by Sabnam Begum, student of Department of Law University of Calcutta, Intern at Legal Vidhiya.
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