IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE PRESENT:

THE HON’BLE JUSTICE BIVAS PATTANAYAK W.P.A. 15785 of 2023 Ruksana Khatun versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

For the Petitioner : Mr. Samim Ahammed, Advocate Mr. Arka Maiti, Advocate Ms. Gulsanwara Pervin, Advocate For the State : Mr. Lalit Mohan Mahata, Ld. AGP Mr. Rudranil De, Advocate For the State Election : Ms. Sonal Sinha, Advocate Commission Ms. Shabnam Farooqi, Advocate Heard on : 18.03.2025, 22.04.2025, 13.05.2025, 22.05.2025, 30.06.2025, 07.07.2025 Judgment on : 07.04.2026 Bivas Pattanayak, J.:-

1. In the present writ petition, the petitioner has sought for following orders.

(i) Issue direction upon the State Election Commission to upload the declaration of the candidate concerned as well as nomination forms on its official website; and (ii) For quashing the candidature of Anil Barnwal, a General category candidate, elected in the constituency reserved for Other Backward Class (in short, „OBC‟)

(iii) For setting aside the OBC certificate of Anil Barnwal;

(iv) Issue direction for an independent and impartial investigation into the State Election Commission’s failure to take appropriate steps despite receiving complaints of a General category candidate contesting in a Reserved constituency as well as sudden change of the candidate’s category from General to OBC.

2. The petitioner contends as follows. The petitioner is an elector in the Ukhra/XI-11 constituency under Ukhra Gram Panchayat, Andal Block, Paschim Bardhaman. The aforementioned constituency is reserved for OBC as per the delimitation order. On 17^th June 2023, the petitioner noticed in the official website of the West Bengal State Election Commission (in short WBSEC) that a candidate belonging to a General category namely private respondent no.7, Anil Barnwal was listed as a contestant in the Reserved constituency. The State Election Commission failed to upload the scanned copies of the candidates’ declarations and nomination forms as required. As a result of which, the petitioner had no means to verify the actual reservation papers of the candidates. The subject candidate namely, Anil Barnwal does not belong to OBC category since the surname „Barnwal‟ is not listed in the list of OBCs for the State of West Bengal. The petitioner made complaints against the said candidate namely Anil Barnwal raising concerns that a candidate belonging to General category is contesting in the constituency reserved for OBC candidate. However, no action was taken to cancel or quash the candidature of Anil Barnwal. On 30th June 2023, the category of Anil Barnwal was changed to OBC in the official website which is a manipulative action purposefully made in favour the ruling political dispensation in the State. Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the action of the respondent authorities concerned, the petitioner has preferred the present writ petition seeking for aforementioned reliefs.

3. The State-respondents filed an affidavit furnished by Sub-Divisional Officer, Asansol (Sadar), Paschim Bardhaman in respect of issuance of OBC Certificate to Anil Barnwal. It is stated therein that, as per the available office records, an application was received through online portal of Backward Classes Welfare Department. Subsequently, the Caste Certificate Section of the office also received the hardcopy of the application along with necessary documents. The said Anil Barnwal did not submit his Electors Photo Identity Card (in short, „EPIC‟), however, that is not a mandatory document for issuance of OBC Certificate. Moreover, a person may register his/her name as elector in any assembly constituency where he/she ordinarily resides. For the purpose of issuance of OBC Certificate, the permanent residential address of the concerned person is taken into consideration as per memorandum issued by Backward Classes Welfare Department. The said Anil Barnwal has made self-declaration by way of an affidavit stating tha