JUDGMENT :

(T.S. Sivagnanam, Uday Kumar, JJ.)

1. This public interest writ petition has been filed for issuance of a writ of mandamus to direct the State Election Commission to immediately file a report marking the areas which are sensitive after considering the Election Commission of India Report earmarking sensitive areas during the 2021 Assembly Elections as well as the NHRC and a special committee report filed pursuant to directions issued in the post-poll violence case in WPA (P) No. 142 of 2021 and 144 of 2021 and immediately requisition and deploy Central Paramilitary Forces in such areas and also at the areas where the state security assessment report denotes to have inadequate force to provide security till after the declaration of the results; to direct the State Election Commission to allow filing of nomination by the candidates contesting in Gram Panchayat Samity and Zilla Parishad who were prevented from filing their nominations in the respective officers of the SDOs; to direct the State Election Commission to ensure that all police personnel have to present their Government issued photo identity card along with Badge Number, tag and Aadhar Card and also other State Government Officials while discharging election related duties.

2. The present writ petitioner had filed an earlier writ petition in WPA (P) 287of 2023 which was heard along with WPA (P) 250 of 2023 and WPA (P) 286 of 2023 and by common judgment dated 13.06.2023 the writ petitions were disposed of.

Since, the main issued highlighted in the present writ petition concerns deployment of the Central Para-military Forces, we would refer to the relevant paragraphs of the common judgment in WPA (P) 250 of 2023 etc. dated 13.06.2023 which is as follows:

50. The next issue is regarding deployment of central para military forces. It has been stated by the State Election Commission that a meeting on assessment of deployment of forces was taken by the Commission on 09.06.2023 with the Chief Secretary of the state and the Director General of Police and an assessment plan by the State will be submitted in due course which will be reviewed by the Commission for taking appropriate decision. The petitioner’s contention is that to instill confidence in the electorate and to ensure fair and transparent election without any violence taking place can be achieved only by deployment of central para military forces. The petitioner in WPA (P) 287 of 2023 would state that prior to the election to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation during 2021 and the Municipal Election conducted in 2022 the State has witnessed large scale violence which has resulted in various deaths as well. In this regard, the petitioner has relied upon the various press reports which were reported in leading Dailies during February 2022 highlighting the violence which has occurred during the said elections. It is pointed out that the State Election Commission during the elections for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation declared 1339 polling centers to be sensitive out of the total polling centers of 4949. Reference was also made to the judgment of five judges bench of this court in WPA (P) No. 142 of 2021 etc, batch dated 19.08.2021 which dealt with the post-poll violence after the assembly elections in the state in the year 2021. After taking note of the all the facts and circumstances the larger bench referred the matter to the CBI for investigation wherever allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women and various directions were issued. The petitioner had also referred to the various orders passed by this Court from August 2022 till May 2023 where the court had directed the central agencies to investigate into the acts of communal violence, explosions bomb blasts and violence during religious festivals and as many as ten such orders were referred to. The decision of the Division Bench in WPA 272 of 2021 dated 10.02.2022 was also referred to which concerned the municipal elections wherein t