Rita Mallick v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

SL 93 31.07.2023 AGM In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 17344 of 2023 Mrs. Rita Mallick -versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Lokenath Chatterjee Mr. Rahul Sarkar Ms. Dipika Sarkar Mr. Siddhant Srivastava Ms. Tatini Sengupta ...For the Petitioner.

Mr. Tarun Kumar Chatterjee Mr. Sujit Gupta Mr. Sayan Datta Mr. Soumen Chatterjee ...For the Election Commissioenr.

The petitioner contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023.

She alleges that her counting agents were not permitted to enter the counting venue.

A complaint was lodged but the same is yet to be considered.

It appears that complaint was lodged on 15th July, 2023 whereas the counting took place on 11/12th July, 2023.

Had there been a genuine grievance, complaint ought to have been lodged immediately.

As complaint was lodged before the concerned authority long after declaration of the results,

accordingly, the prayer of the petitioner for consideration of the representation cannot be allowed. The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed. Dismissal of the writ petition will however not stand in the way of the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum by way of an election petition for redressal of her grievances, if so advised.

The CCTV/Video footages and the ballot papers in respect of the concerned constituency shall be properly preserved and be produced before the Court as and when directed.

Urgent certified photocopy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties expeditiously on compliance of usual legal formalities.

( Amrita Sinha, J.)