Chanchal Debnath v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

02.08.2023 d.p.

In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 17377 of 2023 Chanchal Debnath -versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Lokenath Chatterjee, Mr. Suman Chattopadhyay, Mr. Rahul Sarkar, Ms. Dipika Sarkar, Mr. Siddhant Srivastava.

...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.

The petitioner contested the Panchayat General Elections, 2023. He raises issue with regard to the illegalities committed on the day of counting. Complaint was lodged before the respondent authorities on 15th July, 2023. The same is yet to be disposed of.

It appears that the complaint was filed long after the date of declaration of the result.

Accordingly, the prayer of the petitioner seeking consideration of the objection 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 from approaching the appropriate forum by way of election petition, for redressal of her grievances, if so advised.

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.

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

( Amrita Sinha, J.)