Subhasis Sarkar And ANR v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

Item No.23 In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side 19.07.2023 Ct-24 WPA 16820 of 2023 Subhasis Sarkar & Anr.

v.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Partha Sarathi Das Md. Hafiz Ali Ms. Shanta Sarkar Ms. Debojyooti De ...For the petitioners.

Ms. Sonal Sinha Mr. Tarun Kumar Chatterjee Mr. Sujit Gupta Mr. Sayan Datta Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ... For the State Election Commission.

Mr. Lalit Mohan Mahata Mr. Rudranil De ... for the State.

The petitioners contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023.

On the issue of serious malpractice in the election process a complaint was lodged before the Block Development Officer. The said complaint was forwarded to the District Panchayat & Rural Development Officer, Murshidabad on July 11, 2023. The petitioners are yet to be made aware of the fate of the complaint lodged. Without going into the merits of the claim of the petitioners, as it appears that the complaint lodged by the petitioners was forwarded by the Panchayat Returning Officer to the District Panchayat and Rural

Development Officer way back on July 11, 2023, accordingly, the instant writ petition is disposed of by directing the District Magistrate, Murshidabad to intimate the petitioners the fate of the complaint lodged by the petitioners within August 4, 2023.

The learned advocate for the petitioners is directed to forward a copy of the complaint dated July 11, 2023 and the forwarding letter of the Panchayat Returning Officer dated July 11, 2023 to the aforesaid respondent at the time of communicating the order of the Court. The writ petition stands disposed of.

The Panchayat Returning Officer is directed to properly preserve the CCTV/Video footages and the ballot papers and produce the same as and when directed.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties on usual undertaking. Sh. (Amrita Sinha, J.)