local body elections in West Bengal will be held from July 11 onwards in five phases under adequate security cover.
In ordering this, the Supreme Court asked both the Centre and State Government to provide sufficient number of security forces to ensure peaceful and fair elections in the State.
The State Election Commission had approached the apex court apprehending possible violence during elections as neither the State Government nor the Centre was willing to fulfill the commission's demand for 1.49 lakh security forces. The State was adamant on allocating only 45,000 men and the Centre was unwilling to meet the shortfall.
The State Election Commission also wanted a five-phased poll as against the four-phase poll suggested by the State Government.
Granting every wish of the State election panel, the Vacation Bench of Justices AK Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi ordered a five-phase election and directed the State and the Centre to meet the requirement of forces. Giving 20 minutes' time to the Centre and State to seek instructions on the availability of forces for conduct of polls, the bench re-assembled after a coffee break.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium who appeared for West Bengal submitted that the State had a total police force of 55,000 of which 35,000 would be made available during each of the phases. With Ramzan beginning from July 10, he cited unavailability of the entire police force.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Rakesh Khanna was hardly left with any choice as the Court observed, “Whatever the shortfall, we expect the Centre to fulfill it. If they do not do it, then we will direct them to do it.”
Khanna submitted that as of now, 42 companies of the Central forces are deployed in the Maoist-hit districts of the State. He cited helplessness to meet the shortfall as this would require an additional 150 to 200 companies of Central forces and armed forces.
Moreover, he added that the Central forces were currently engaged in flood-hit Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, from where they required 15-20 days to be positioned in West Bengal.
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SC steps in to ensure peaceful polls in Bengal
Finding this problem genuine, the bench decided to hold the polls on July 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25. While State forces for the five days would be constant, the Court directed the Centre to allocate 15,000 personnel in the first two phases and 25,000 personnel in the third and fourth phase. In the last phase, the Centre was required to allocate only 2000 security persons.
The breakup was decided keeping in mind the sensitivity of areas going to polls in each phase. For instance, the first phase would involve the Maoist districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore which are ultra-sensitive. The second phase would cover the sensitive districts of East Midnapore, Hoogly, and Burdwan. The third and forth phases would carry the bulk of the remaining districts that would require large volume of forces. These included Howrah, 24 North and South Parganas, Nadia, Murshidabad, Malda and Birbhum. The last phase would include Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur.