The Supreme Court on June 20 upheld a Calcutta High Court decision to throw open the doors for central security forces to enter West Bengal to ensure free and fair panchayat elections on July 8.
A Vacation Bench of Justices B.V Nagarathna and Manoj Misra reasoned that West Bengal has a “history of violence” during polls and the upcoming local polls was a mammoth exercise involving elections to 75,000-odd seats. Polling would take place across 61,636 booths in the State in just one day, requiring adequate security measures.
Noting that panchayat elections are to be held to a mammoth 75,000-odd seats and 61,000 polling booths have been set up, the top court said the High Court order was passed to ensure free and fair polls.
