The West Bengal State Election Commission today submitted in the Calcutta High Court that law and order was not as good as was being claimed by the state government and stuck to holding the panchayat elections with 800 companies of central paramilitary forces.
The affidavit submitted by the SEC referred to recent incidents like the death of a SFI leader while being taken to jail after a law violation programme, vandalism at Presidency College and repercussions in different parts of the state following the SFI's attack on Finance Minister Amit Mitra in Delhi.
The SEC in its affidavit submitted to Justice Biswanath Somadder stated that while it sought 1.7 lakh personnel, including 800 companies of central paramilitary forces, the state was saying that 55,000 personnel would be provided which was suffice.
The SEC also claimed that peace prevailed in Maoist-affected junglemahal because of the presence of central paramilitary forces.
The state government had stated in its affidavit that law and order had improved there and that Maoist activities had effectively ceased.
Justice Somadder, hearing a petition by the SEC praying that dates announced by the state for holding the elections be cancelled and that section 42 of West Bengal Panchayat Election Act be declared ultra vires of the Constitution, had directed both the state and SEC to file affidavits in support of their claims.
While the state filed its affidavit in opposition to the petition last Friday, the SEC filed its reply to the opposition during the day.
The matter, which was scheduled to be heard from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm, could only be heard till 3.15 pm as the court had to rise for the farewell of Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, who has been transferred to a different high court.
