Shampa Mal Mondal v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.
25.07.2023 sb. Ct.24 In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 16940 of 2023 Shampa Mal Mondal versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Biswajit Manna ...For the Petitioner.
Ms. Sonal Sinha, Mr. Tarun Chatterjee, Mr. Sujit Gupta, Mr. Sayan Datta, Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ...For the State Election Commission.
Mr. Lalit Mohan Mahata Mr. Indranil Roy Md. M. Nazar Chowdhury ...For the State.
Affidavit of service filed in Court today is taken on record.
The petitioner contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023 and lost by three votes.
She alleges discrepancy in the number of votes polled and the number of ballot papers issued as reflected in Form 18.
A complaint was lodged before the Panchayat Returning Officer on 11th July, 2023. As the said officer refused to put any seal or signature on receiving the complaint, the petitioner lodged a further complaint
before the District Magistrate on 12th July, 2023. The same is yet to be disposed of.
Without going into the merits of the allegation made in the complaint filed by the petitioner, the instant writ petition is disposed of by directing the State Election Commission to look into the complaint filed by the petitioner at the earliest, but positively within a period of ten days from the date of communication of a copy of this order.
reasoned order shall be passed and communicated to the petitioner immediately thereafter. The learned advocate for the petitioner is directed to forward a copy of the complaint dated 12th July, 2023 to the State Election Commission at the time of communicating the order of the Court.
The Panchayat Returning Officer is directed to properly preserve the CCTV/Video footages and the ballot papers and to produce the same as and when called for.
The writ petition stands disposed of.
Urgent certified photocopy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties expeditiously on compliance of usual legal formalities.
( Amrita Sinha, J.)