Putting an interim stay on the Election Commission’s notification of detaining “troublemakers” on the eve of the first phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said prima facie the police observer appointed by the state Chief Electoral Officer “has erred in issuing a blanket direction by treating certain citizens as ‘trouble makers’”.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Parthasarathy Sen, however, added that a stay would not come in the way of the civil/police authorities to proceed against a person, who commits an offence.
“…in our prima facie view, the police observer in the office of Chief Election Officer, West Bengal, has erred in issuing a blanket direction by treating certain citizens as “troublemakers’. Hence, as an interim measure, we deem it proper to stay the effect and operation of the impugned order till the last day of June, 2026 or till further order whichever is earlier. However, it is made clear that this order will not come in the way of the civil/police authorities to proceed against any person, who commits an offence under the BNS, RP Act or any other penal law,” the High Court said.
“Putting it differently, even if the persons, whose names find place in Annexure –A of letter dated 21.04.2026, commit an offence, this interim order will not come in the way of the authorities to proceed against them in accordance with law as per their own independent discretion,” the High Court said.
“We also direct that for exercising the power of “preventive detention/action”, the authorities can proceed strictly in accordance with the relevant detention law,” the High Court said, before listing the matter after five weeks.
The High Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a stay on the EC notification, fearing arrest of TMC workers, including sitting MLAs before the voting.
During the hearing, Senior Counsel Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the petitioner, submitted, “In my Uttarpara constituency, councillors Tanmay Deb, Kallol Banerjee, party leader Subashish Chowdhury, president of Town TMC Prakash Saha all have been named as troublemakers in the EC list. How do they term troublemakers? What is the basis of terming them troublemakers? How did you (the EC ) identify them as troublemakers?”
Banerjee questioned whether such a list had been issued by the EC in any other state.
“If any criminal case is there, if there is any cognizable offence, then take steps in accordance with the law. If anybody violates any law then steps can be taken. But in a blanket manner, no one can be identified as a criminal. The Constitution and law does not apply for the Election Commissioner. He makes his own law,” he added.
Arguing that the EC lacks power to arrest anyone, Banerjee said, “Can there be any provision that violates the constitutional right of any person? The EC is using the short span of time so that affected parties cannot approach the court. The EC is abusing their power. This list has to be stayed,” submitted Banerjee.
Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal, submitted, “The general law and order duty is still with the state administration. The list is titled as ‘Preventive Action because of Voter Intimidation’. ‘Troublemaker’ is not a term that is used in any penal statute. The EC cannot frame a term which is not there in any law of our country.”
“There is no section for ‘Creating disturbance in the Electoral Process’. No law has been cited by the EC for preventive arrest of the people in the list. The EC has to justify the provisions,” Dutta further submitted.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Sujoy Pal asked the Election Commission’s lawyer to explain the rationale behind issuing such a notification.
In response, lawyer Dama Seshadri Naidu, representing the EC, said, “The Commission has not ordered the arrest of anyone. It has spoken of extreme situations. If anyone obstructs the peaceful election, then action has to be taken, if necessary.”
“The Commission can take steps for peaceful and fair elections. The Commission has taken this step in the wake of some secret reports. If some people are not kept under surveillance, the situation can worsen. Besides, if any wrong action is taken against someone, he can approach the law,” the EC’s lawyer further submitted.
Lawyer Jaideep Kar, representing the Director General of Police, said, “We have been instructed that if there is no punishable offence, then an FIR cannot be filed. If there is a situation of breach of peace, action will be taken as per the law.”
On Monday, the PIL was filed seeking urgent hearing . The petition stated , “… accompanying this clandestine list, as the petitioner has been reliably informed, 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 behind this directive appears to be the pre-emptive removal of these individuals, irrespective of whether there are any pending criminal proceedings or established grounds under law for such drastic actions. The petitioner submits that the effect of implementing such a measure would be to deprive the named individuals of their liberty without due process, and to interfere, in an impermissible manner, with the integrity of the electoral process.”
The list contained names of sitting MLAs like Paresh Chandra Adhikari, Minister Udayan Guha, Hamidul Rahaman, Gautam Paul, Amirul Islam, Imani Biswas, Ratna Chatterjee and former MLA Manirul Islam among others .
Over the past few days, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly talked of a conspiracy to arrest TMC workers and leaders, including party’s booth agents on the eve of polling.
The first phase of polling for 152 seats will take place on Thursday.