Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 12: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday put a damper on the ruling Trinamool Congress party’s victory celebrations by issuing an order that the panchayat elections in West Bengal and the declaration of results would be subject to its final orders in connection with matters which it was hearing over allegations of electoral malpractices on the day of polling.
A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said right from the day when the notification for the Panchayat elections were issued, the Court had been passing several orders and even closely monitoring the entire process.
“When the court is seized of the matter, it goes without saying that whatever has been done thus far, i.e, the conduct of the elections and the declaration of results, will be subject to the ultimate orders that may be passed in this writ petition,” he said.
The court directed the State Election Commission (SEC), the state government and the central government to file affidavits dealing with all the allegations made in three petitions alleging malpractices. It also directed that the SEC should inform this aspect to all the candidates who have been declared elected while directing the West Bengal government to ensure all possible steps are taken to control the situation.
“As observed in our series of orders, we are monitoring the entire process, we make it clear that whatever has happened thus far, like voting, results etc is subject to the further orders this court will pass in the present petitions. We put to notice, the elected candidates that their elections are subject to our further orders,” the bench made it clear.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, seeking a probe by an independent agency into the rampant post-poll violence in the State. Alleging large-scale violence and electoral malpractice during the panchayat election on July 8, the petitioners prayed for a direction to the SEC to conduct re-polling in around 50,000 booths. Re-polling was done in 696 booths and counting of ballots began on July 11.
One petitioner who displayed videos showing alleged rampant malpractices on the day of the election was directed to furnish a copy of the videos to the lawyers of the SEC, the state and the central governments by Wednesday. The court directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing on July 19.
Taking a dim view of the SEC, the bench said it was of prima facie view that the response from the Commission was not adequate and that even on Wednesday, none of its officers was present in the court to give necessary instructions to its counsel. “It is not clear why the commission is not proactive especially when the court had been monitoring the entire process and the first judgement was delivered on June 13,” the court said.
The court had passed a series of orders for the conduct of the three-tier rural elections in West Bengal in a free and fair manner. The court said it was surprised to note that even after the declaration of results, the state was not able to control the violence which has erupted in several places.
“The responsibility to ensure that there is no breach of peace lies with the state government. If the state government is not in a position to safeguard its citizens, then it is a very serious matter to be taken note of,” the court said.
The petitioner also sought direction to the CBI to register an FIR and conduct investigation into the violence and electoral malpractice and a forensic audit of the video footage of the polling booths and a forensic audit of the ballot papers by an independent agency. It was also prayed that the state government be directed to forward a report to the central government on the bomb blasts on the day of the election.
During the hearing the bench was informed that as many as 6,000 booths must undergo re-polling as there have been many electoral malpractices there. The petition highlighted that right from the inception of the election process, the entire electoral process has been compromised.
“The electoral process was exactly opposite to what this Court had envisaged. Allegations of rape, murder and heinous crime have been made. Voters have been intimidated. On polling day ballots papers were looted, booths were captured, false voting took place. More shocking is the photograph of a man urinating on a ballot box making mockery of the democratic festival,” the advocate pointed out.
The advocate also played a video showing fake voting, violence inside the polling and counting booths despite the presence of police officers in the booths. Another petitioner, advocate Priyanka Tibrewal, claimed that she received over 250 emails from the general public, highlighting violence.
“Now that the results have been declared, there were threats of not letting the loosing candidate to enter their homes. They attacked the loosing candidate’s homes, shops. Women candidates were thrown out of the counting stations by pulling their hairs, by the policemen,” Tibrewal claimed.
In one of the counting stations, Tibrewal alleged that the police threw out all opposition candidates and only Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Priya Pal was allowed inside. When she sensed her party was losing, she poured a bottle of water in the ballot box.
The Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Billwadal Bhattacharya submitted that there was “too much non-cooperation” by the SEC. “We are making a detailed report and would submit it. Till date, we haven’t got any information of sensitive booths. There is a waste of tax payers’ money. We air-lifted the personnel but we weren’t aware of the deployment plan or the address of the sensitive booths,” the DSG told the judges.
After hearing the submissions, the bench ordered the SEC to respond to the allegations made by the DSG too. Further, the bench asked the SEC to clarify whether it has taken any decision on the representations made by the petitioners for re-polling in as many as 6,000 booths.
The bench further directed the SEC to maintain the records of the CCTV footage of the polling and counting booths and also the ballot boxes and papers. Further a direction was issued to the State to restore and repair the educational institutions which were damaged during the violence.
The matter would be taken up for hearing next on July 21.
