Bengal Goverment Planning To Subvert High Court Order On Ensuring Free And Fair Panchayat Polls?

The Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, peeved over the Supreme Court dismissing its appeal against the Calcutta High Court order on deployment of central forces to ensure free and fair panchayat polls in the state, is reportedly planning to subvert the order. 

Last Tuesday (13 June), a Calcutta High Court bench comprising Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Uday Kumar asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to requisition central forces for all the districts of Bengal within 48 hours. 

The state government and the SEC appealed to the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High court order. A vacation bench of the apex court comprising Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Manoj Mishra dismissed the state’s appeal and upheld the High Court directive Tuesday (20 June). 

The Supreme Court bench also made scathing observations against the state government and the SEC and said that holding elections cannot be a “licence for violence”. 

The apex court also took note of the widespread poll-related violence in Bengal and wondered “if people are not able to go and file their nominations or those who have filed their nominations are ultimately finished off or there are group clashes, then where is free and fair elections?”

The Supreme Court bench also wondered what objection the state government and the SEC could have on requisitioning central forces when it has already planned to requisition armed police forces from half a dozen other states. 

The apex court observed that the state government’s plans to requisition police forces from other states shows that the Bengal Police does not have the adequate strength to ensure free and fair polls. 

After this Supreme Court rap on its knuckles, a peeved Bengal government has announced (Wednesday, 21 June) that it will requisition only 22 companies of the central armed police forces (CAPFs) for the 22 districts of the state. 

But that would be defeating the very purpose of the Calcutta High Court order (upheld by the Supreme Court) on ensuring free and fair polls by deploying neutral CAPFs. 

That’s because twenty-two companies of the CAPFs is inadequate to conduct free and fair elections. 

One company of a CAPF has a maximum of 135 personnel, of whom about 100 are armed and the rest are support staff. 

A hundred armed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) or Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawans are simply not enough to keep Trinamool cadre at bay even in one administrative block. There are 342 blocks in Bengal. 

There are 61,636 polling booths in 44,382 polling stations in Bengal. According to poll officials, given the level of poll violence and rigging by ruling party cadres in Bengal, every polling station requires at least one squad comprising five armed CAPF personnel while two more squads (of five to nine armed personnel each) need to be mobile in the surrounding areas. 

A state civil services officer who served in the Bengal SEC for a number of years before retiring in 2021 told Swarajya that if free and fair polls need to be conducted in Bengal, at least one company of armed CAPF needs to be deployed for a cluster of ten polling stations. 

That means at least 4,450 companies of CAPFs, or about 635 battalions, would be required to ensure free and fair panchayat polls in Bengal on 8 July. 

“But it is impossible to get such a huge number of central forces. That is why the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducts Assembly polls in Bengal in seven phases. That is done in order to ensure optimum deployment of central forces that can be moved from one place to another prior to each phase. Hence, the requirement of CAPFs also goes down drastically if polls are held in phases,” the retired SEC officer who did not want to be named told Swarajya. 

But the forthcoming panchayat polls in Bengal will be held only in one phase (on 8 July). 

The retired SEC officer said that ruling party cadres deploy a number of tactics to rig polls. “The cadres patrol the areas around polling stations in motorcycles to create fear among opposition workers and supporters. They gather near polling stations to prevent opposition workers and supporters from going to the polling booths. And inside the booths, they scare away opposition supporters and polling agents and then cast false votes,” he said. 

That is why an adequate number of armed CAPF personnel is necessary to foil the evil designs of Trinamool Congress cadres. 

He agreed that merely 22 companies of central forces is grossly inadequate to contain Trinamool Congress cadres, who will set out to rig the polls. 

A K Sengupta, a retired IPS officer said that in all likelihood, the central forces will be kept at the district police headquarters and their movements will be restricted.

“The very purpose of requisitioning central forces to ensure free and fair polls is defeated if they (the central forces) are placed at the discretion of district police officers who cannot be expected to act fairly and impartially,” Sengupta told Swarajya. 

Another Bengal-cadre IPS officer who had also served in the CRPF told Swarajya that with the Bengal government (through the pliant SEC) deciding on where to deploy central forces, “one can be hundred per cent sure that the central forces will not be anywhere near areas where Trinamool Congress cadres attack opposition candidates, functionaries, workers and supporters on 8 July ”. 

“The state government’s intentions (to undermine the Calcutta HC order as upheld by the Supreme Court) became absolutely clear the moment it announced that it is requisitioning one company (of CAPF) for each district. It demonstrated that the state government will obey the HC’s orders in just a perfunctory manner,” said the former IPS officer who did not want to be named. 

The Mamata Banerjee government, it appears, is determined to subvert the Calcutta High Court order. Which is why, feel legal experts, it would have been preferable for the High Court to directly oversee the poll process or order polling in phases with adequate numbers of CAPF personnel.