“If you can’t handle, we will”: HC raps State EC for requesting inadequate Central Forces for WB Panchayat Polls 2023

On June 21, the Calcutta High Court rapped the West Bengal State Election Commission for requisitioning insufficient companies, issuing a fresh direction to requisition additional Central Forces within 24 hours to conduct the Panchayat Elections 2023.

The court’s Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sivagnanam and Uday Kumar, criticised the State Election Commission for requisitioning mere 22 companies of Central Forces compared to 825 companies deployed in 2013.

The court orally remarked, “Very sorry state of affairs…you are a neutral body…you need not walk any dotted line…We reposed great faith in the SEC, and that is why we said that the ultimate decision must lie with the SEC…it did not act based on our confidence…so another order had to be passed…Court shouldn’t lose faith in the system…but if ultimately people are starting to lose faith, then what is purpose of conducting elections?”

The court added, “Independence of the Commission should not be doubted…you have gone to highest Court…now accept their judgement…if it is difficult for the Commissioner to take orders, he can step down…probably the Governor may appoint someone else…even earlier there was no representation from the Commission…if they are so busy they better wind up their business…if they are not in a position to, then leave it to us, we will handle.”

The court was hearing BJP Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary’s contempt petitions against the State Election Commission and West Bengal government’s inaction in implementing the court’s orders dated June 13 and 15.

Notably, the State Election Commission and the West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court’s orders dated June 13 and 15. However, the Supreme Court dismissed their plea. It said, “Therefore, in our view, the High Court was not in error in issuing the aforestated directions, as the same was done to ensure, not only that the nominations are filed in a peaceful manner, but also that the entire election is conducted fairly and the results are declared peacefully.”

The Calcutta High Court said it has “no hesitation” in its mind that the court’s orders and directions have not been complied with “in its letter and spirit.” The court further remarked, “We fail to understand as to why the State Election Commission is still not taking any independent decision in the matter,” even as the commission’s counsel on instruction said that the commission would abide by the court’s directions.

The court further noted that in its first order, it had reposed confidence in the commission and directed the commission to assess sensitive areas. However, due to commission’s inaction necessitated the court to issue directions for the deployment of Central Forces throughout West Bengal, which was also affirmed by the Supreme Court.

The commission’s counsel had submitted, “one Company of the Central Force has been requisitioned for each of the 22 Districts,” and that one company consists of 80 persons taking the total number of personnel requisitioned at about 1700. The court remarked, “which in our view is thoroughly inadequate.”

The court then referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in West Bengal State Election Commission v State of West Bengal and others (2013), wherein the commission had resisted the state government’s decision in the matter of deployment of Central Forces during Panchayat elections in 2013.

The court remarked, “If that was the manner in which the State Election Commission had acted in the year 2013, we are at a loss to understand as to what has happened to the independency and supremacy of the State Election Commission during the ensuing election.” In the abovementioned case, it was recorded that the Panchayat Election 2013 was to be conducted in five phases, and the Central Forces deployed were about 82,000.

The court said, “Therefore, if the State Election Commission is not pro-active and not inclined to implement the order passed by this Court in its letter and spirit, we are of the prima facie opinion that the State Election Commission is attempting to make the orders passed by this Court unworkable to which they are not entitled to, more particularly, when the Hon’ble Supreme Court has affirmed the order.” The court added, “This will also lead us to a prima facie conclusion that there has been deliberate violation of the order and direction which was directed to be complied with in its letter and spirit.”

The court has directed the commission to requisition a sufficient number of Central Forces which shall not be less than the forces requisitioned in the 2013 Panchayat Elections. Furthermore, it has to be more than the 2013 Panchayat Elections, as the number of districts has increased in the last decade. The court further said, “Therefore, we expect that the State Election Commission to take note of this direction in a proper and effective manner and this Court hopes that the direction will be complied with in its letter and spirit and any attempt to make the order unworkable may result in adverse consequences.”

The court also noted that in the West Bengal government’s letter to the Punjab government, the requisition was made to provide the police force to reach the designated location on July 6, 2023. The court said, “The Court was of the view that such requisition has been made and the Forces are required to be present till the entire election process is completed.”

The court noted the contradiction between the commission’s submissions before the court and the West Bengal government’s letter requisitioning police force from the Punjab government. The court further said, “This also appears to be an attempt to mislead the Court as the Court even in the order passed in the earlier writ petition had made it clear that the requisition of Central Forces was to cover the entire Election Process not on the date of polling alone.”

The court said, “Therefore, we are of the view that such deployment of the Forces from other States to be in place on the date of polling will not yield the desired result. Therefore, de hors the number of Police Forces which may have been requisitioned from other States, the State Election Commission shall independently assess the requirement and as observed earlier the assessment should be honest and bearing in mind that the State Election Commission has constitutional obligation to ensure free and fair election and to preserve the purity of the entire Election Process. We hope and trust that the directions be complied with effectively and immediately without loss of time.”