High Court wants Mamata Banerjee to reply to State Election Commission's security demand

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed Mamata Banerjee government to submit its reply by Friday on the State Election Commission's (SEC) application seeking adequate security arrangements for the July panchayat polls.

The SEC had on Tuesday moved a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Joymalya Bagchi and claimed that the state government had failed to make adequate security arrangements for the polls.

The division bench heard the case on Wednesday and asked the state government to submit its reply regarding the security arrangements it has made and the allegations by the SEC about the shortfall in security arrangements.

The court, in its order earlier, had underlined the primacy of the poll panel in conducting the elections and had directed the state government to make adequate security arrangements as desired by the SEC for the July 2, 6 and 9 polls.

SEC counsel said only 3,800 policemen were made available during the filing of nominations for the first phase of polls in nine districts scheduled July 2 when the panel had asked for around 31,000 personnel. The division bench will hear the case again on Monday after getting the state government reply on Friday.

Meanwhile, the state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharjee blamed chief minister Mamata Banerjee for not playing an active role in bringing Central forces for the panchayat elections. "It is very clear that the chief minister is unwilling to deploy Central forces. "I had a talk with the Union home minister Sushil Shinde who made it clear that the Centre had no problem in sending forces to our state for the panchayat polls. I don't understand why the chief minister Mamata Banerjee is not talking to the home minister directly to clear any confusion over deployment of the Central force," Bhattacharjee told reporters at the state Congress headquarters.