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PRAKASH SHRIVASTAVA, RAJARSHI BHARADWAJ
Soumendu Adhikari – Appellant
Versus
State Of West Bengal – Respondent
ORDER
1. Counsel for the parties have been heard on interim prayer for forensic audit of CCTV footage of Contai Municipal election.
2. This writ petition relates to the allegations of malpractices such as booth capturing, forged voting, violence etc. during the Contai municipal elections held on 27.02.2022. The prayer in the petition is to hold fresh polls to the Contai Municipality by deployment of central paramilitary forces.
3. Earlier orders were passed by this Court and directions were issued for holding the polling in free, fair and fearless manner because since beginning petitioner was apprehending various malpractices and violence during election. By earlier order dated 23.02.2022 in WPA (P) 271 of 2021 in the case of Mousumi Roy vs. West Bengal State Election Commission and Others, this Court instead of accepting the prayer for deployment of paramilitary forces, had issued several directions to ensure holding of fair election in the Municipalities, including the direction to the State Election Commission to install CCTV cameras at conspicuous spot in all main and ancillary booths across the State and to preserve the footage. After the election, a serious issue has been raised
The power of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution is ordinarily excluded in election matters, but not wholly excluded, and can be exercised to uphold democratic principles.
The High Court affirmed that comprehensive surveillance and security measures previously ordered for municipal elections apply universally. It further mandated that election authorities must strictly....
The Court held that the State's undertaking to implement comprehensive security, CCTV surveillance, and observer oversight for municipal elections satisfies the requirements for free and fair polls, ....
The court ruled that comprehensive security and transparency protocols (CCTV surveillance, Observers, and candidate protection) mandated in previous election-related petitions apply uniformly to all ....
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the State Election Commission has the responsibility to assess the ground situation and take a decision in respect of deployment of paramilita....
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