India

Central Forces For Panchayat Polls: Bengal Govt, Poll Body Move Supreme Court

Kolkata: The West Bengal government and State Election Commission (SEC) jointly moved the Supreme Court on Saturday, challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order directing deployment of central forces during Panchayat polls in the state.

After multiple incidents of violence, bombing and firing during filing of nominations, resulting in five deaths, a division bench of the High Court on Thursday directed the SEC to requisition and deploy central forces across West Bengal for the conduct of Panchayat elections within 48 hours.

The division bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, noted that no appreciable steps had been taken by SEC and state government since its previous order passed on June 13.

Leaders of Opposition parties BJP and Congress had approached the high court asking for deployment of central forces to ensure peaceful elections, citing instances of widespread violence during municipal elections in 2022 and Kolkata Municipal Corporation election in 2021.

BJP, Congress, and CPI (M) have accused the Mamata Banerjee-headed Trinamool Congress government of using police machinery to prevent Opposition candidates from submitting their nomination forms.

The three-tier Panchayat elections is scheduled to be held in West Bengal on July 8, to elect representatives for nearly 74,000 seats across zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

Ex-Army Officer Of Odisha Loses Rs 1 Cr After Being Trapped In ‘Digital Arrest’

Cuttack: A former Army officer from Odisha’s Cuttack has lost Rs one crore after being…

10 hours ago

Kartik Aaryan’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ Set For OTT Release; Here’s All You Need To Know

Mumbai: There’s good news for those who missed ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ in theatres but want to…

11 hours ago

Odisha CM Launches 1542 MPACS To Boost Rural Economy Through Cooperatives

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday launched 1,542 Multipurpose Primary Agriculture Cooperatives…

11 hours ago

Christmas Day Tragedy: Tourist Boat Capsizes Off Goa’s Calangute Beach; One Dead, 20 Rescued

Panjim: Christmas turned tragic for a family from Maharashtra as a 54-year-man died after a tourist…

11 hours ago

Intense Rain To Lash 7 Odisha Dists Tonight, Yellow Alert For Bhubaneswar & Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: At least seven districts of Odisha are likely to experience zone or two intense…

11 hours ago

Kriti Sanon’s Fun-Filled Christmas Celebrations With Rumoured Beau Kabir Bahia & ‘Santa Claus’ MS Dhoni

Mumbai: It was a fun-filled and loved-up Christmas for Kriti Sanon. The Bollywood actress took…

12 hours ago

This website uses cookies.