With the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections just days away, a Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the Calcutta High Court, fearing “arrests” of Trinamool Congress party leaders and workers prior to the polls.
The matter was listed Monday before the Division Bench of HC Chief Justice Sujoy Pal and Justice Parthasarathy Sen, which allowed the petition filed by advocate Md Danish Farooqi. TMC Member of Parliament and senior counsel Kalyan Banerjee appeared in the court on behalf of the party. The matter is likely to be heard on Wednesday.
Party workers alleged that the Election Commission of India has sought the names of around 800 workers, including MLAs, councillors and party workers across constituencies, through the state police. “There is a fear of their arrest. The court should immediately intervene in this matter,” the petitioner argued.
The plea, a copy of which was obtained by The Indian Express, states: “This list purportedly designates certain individuals, referred to within as “trouble makers” and has been surreptitiously disseminated among the cadre of recently appointed Police Observers and General Observers deployed throughout the state of West Bengal for election-related duties.”
“Accompanying this clandestine list…is an explicit directive issued to the said observers to ensure that all individuals named as alleged “trouble makers” are identified, located, and subjected to arrest and/or preventive detention prior to the commencement of polling in their respective Assembly constituencies. The objective…appears to be pre-emptive removal of these individuals, irrespective of whether there are any pending criminal proceedings or established grounds under law for such drastic actions…(and) to interfere, in an impermissible manner, with the integrity of the electoral process,” it further claimed.
The said list includes the names of Cabinet Minister Udayan Guha, MLAs Paresh Chandra Adhikari, Hamidul Rahaman, Gautam Paul, Amirul Islam, Imani Biswas, Ratna Chatterjee, and former MLA Manirul Islam, among others.
Over the last few days, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly alleged during the campaign that a “conspiracy” was underway to “arrest TMC workers” ahead of the polls.