Calcutta high court calls for peaceful rural polls

KOLKATA: The Calcutta high court wants the state administration, particularly superintendents of police in each district, to ensure that candidates for rural polls can file their nomination papers peacefully and properly.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee made some observations on Friday while taking up a PIL by West Bengal Pradesh Congress president and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Chowdhury sought the court’s intervention to stop the unabated violence in block offices during filing of nominations, especially since 50% of panchayat seats are reserved for women. Chowdhury pleaded his case in person due to the continuing lawyers’ ceasework.

The bench, however, didn’t pass any order on Chowdhury’s plea for deployment of central forces during the panchayat polls — right from the date of filing nominations to the conduct of polls in three phases. Justice Bhattacharya held that the bench will take up the matter during the hearing of the PIL on April 20. The court directed the state election commission to file its affidavit with a detailed report on the status of filing of nominations by April 16, and the petitioner to give his reply by April 19.

Many Congress supporters had come to Court 1 on Friday to listen to Chowdhury in a new avatar — arguing his case in court — when Parliament and the West Bengal assembly have been his natural forte. Even Chowdhury looked a little tense when the division bench took up Item 543 for hearing at 10.40am.

But before Chowdhury could begin, the acting Chief Justice raised a question on his locus standi. “You are an MP. Under which capacity have you filed this PIL?” Justice Bhattacharya said.

Chowdhury submitted that he is an MP and also Bengal president of a party that had introduced panchayati raj in the country. “But elections to panchayats under the present regime have become a farce,” Chowdhury said. He then addressed the Chief Justice as “Sir” as he does in Parliament, but soon switched to “My Lord” — the legal convention — when prompted by a lawyer.

The rest was Chowdhury as usual. “My Lord, the election notification has been made on April 2 stating that the last date of nomination is April 9. The opposition didn’t get even seven clear days for filing nominations. Candidates can’t go to the block offices individually and file nominations because the office is mobbed by miscreants owing allegiance to the ruling party. I mention that 50% of the panchayat seats are reserved for women. Is it possible for women to reach the block office in such a situation? Police have become a puppet if the ruling party and the state election commission has become a toothless tiger,” Chowdhury said.

The bench intervened at this juncture and asked Chowdhury to refrain from using words such as “puppet” and “toothless tiger” and concentrate on the legal points instead. The Bengal Congress president took the cue and argued that block offices are not safe for filing nominations. “The court may arrange for alternatives such as filing nominations at DM’s office or online. Central forces are necessary from the date of filing nominations till the election is over,” Chowdhury said.

Making his point for seeking central forces, the Congress MP said: “This is an admitted fact that there is a huge shortfall of state police and also state officials for the conduct of polls. In the last 2013 panchayat polls, the polls were conducted in presence of 25,000 central forces.”

State election commission secretary Nilanjan Shandilya told the court that directions have been given to the administration to make security arrangements.