Firoz Alam v. The Secretary Of West Bengal Election Commission And ORS.

Item No.20 In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side 02.08.2023 Ct-24 WPA 17363 of 2023 Firoz Alam v.

The Secretary of West Bengal Election Commission & Ors.

Mr. Subhrajit Saha Mr. Badrul Karim ... For the petitioner.

Ms. Sonal Sinha Mr. Tarun Kumar Chatterjee Mr. Sujit Gupta Mr. Sayan Datta Mr. Soumen Chatterjee Ms. Rituparna Saha ... For the State Election Commission Mr. Santanu Mitra Mr. Amartya Pal ... For the State.

Mr. Anuran Samanta ... For the respondent no. 3.

Mr. Billwadal Bhattacharyya Mr. Tirtha Pati Acharyya ... For the Union of India.

The petitioner contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023.

He alleges that on the day of poll he was severely beaten and thrown out of the polling station. A complaint with a prayer for re-polling was submitted before the Block Development Officer and the

Station Election Commission on July 17, 2023 and July 18, 2023. The petitioner prays for consideration of the same.

It appears that the prayer made by the petitioner for re-poll was filed long after the declaration of the result.

Accordingly, there is no scope for directing the respondent authorities for consideration of such prayer. 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 in accordance with law, for redressal of his 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.)