Panchayat polls: Calcutta HC seeks affidavit from Bengal govt on violence

Kolkata, June 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit within 10 days stating the reasons why several candidates were unable to file their nominations for the forthcoming panchayat polls despite a clear order from the court in this context.

A singe-judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed the state government to inform the court about the number of arrests made by police in connection with the violence during the nomination-phase that concluded last week.

Justice Mantha also directed the state government to attach CCTV footage of the areas where the violence occurred along with the affidavit.

He cautioned all officers-in-charge of all police stations under trouble- prone Basirhat sub-division in North 24 Parganas district against inaction and directed them to necessary actions immediately on receipt of any complaint of violence on this count.

He also observed that there had been several complaints of police inaction during the nomination phase.

On Tuesday, a division bench of the Supreme Court had upheld an earlier order by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court directing central forces deployment throughout the state for the forthcoming polls for the three-tier panchayat system.

Eight deaths relating to poll-related violence have been reported from different pockets in the state since panchayat poll dates were announced on June 8.

The polls for the three-tier panchayat polls are scheduled on July 8 and the counting will be taken up on July 11.

Source: IANS