Bengal panchayat polls: State election commission to approach Calcutta HC on central forces deployment

Kolkata, June 15 West Bengal State Election Commission will be approaching a division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya on Thursday with a review petition on the earlier order by the same bench for deployment of central armed forces in seven sensitive districts for the forthcoming panchayat elections in the state.

Till Wednesday evening, the commission had not taken any decision on the deployment of central armed forces. Now with the decision to approach the Calcutta High Court with the review petition, the opposition parties have started questioning how sincere the commission is about ensuring free and fair polls in the rural civic body elections.

Meanwhile, the state unit of BJP in West Bengal too has decided to move the same division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday only with a plea to seek explanations on why the commission had been reluctant to take any decision on central forces deployment.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari has brought forth an explosive allegation accusing the member of West Bengal cabinet and the district superintendent of state police of holding a meeting to conspire on how to resort to massive rigging on the election day.

"At this very moment a meeting is going on between Minister Aroop Biswas, TMC MLA Khokan Das; Purba Bardhaman District TMC President & MLA Rabindranath Chatterjee in Room No 121 of Hotel Sinclairs Burdwan. The agenda is how to loot votes & rig upcoming Panchayat Elections in Purba Bardhaman district. Guess who joined them at 11.57 pm? SP Purba Bardhaman; Mr. Kamanasish Sen, in plain clothes," alleged Adhikari in a Twitter message issued on late Wednesday night.