Jesmina Bibi And Kismat v. The Secretary Of West Bengal Election Commission And ORS.

Item No.53 In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side 26.07.2023 Ct-24 WPA 17191 of 2023 Jesmina Bibi & Anr.

v.

The Secretary of West Bengal Election Commission & Ors.

Mr. Sunny Nandy Mr. Nurnobi Seikh Mr. Imtiaz Kabir Mr. Subha Pathak ...For the petitioners.

Mr. Amal Kumar Sen, Ld. AGP.

Mr. Lal Mohan Basu ... For the State.

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

The petitioners contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023.

They allege several illegalities and irregularities at the time of poll and at the time of counting. From the documents annexed to the writ petition it appears that complaint was lodged before the respondents only on July 17, 2023 i.e. long after the date of declaration of the results.

As it appears that the petitioners failed to lodge complaint immediately after the illegality took place,

accordingly, the Court refrains from exercising jurisdiction in the matter.

The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed. Dismissal of the writ petition will, however, not stand in the way of the petitioners to approach the appropriate forum by way of an election petition in accordance with law, for redressal of their grievances, if so advised.

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.)