Rajyadhar Marjit And ANR. v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

04.08.2023 d.p.

In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 17418 of 2023 Rajyadhar Marjit & Anr.

-versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Rajendra Banerjee.

...For the Petitioners.

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.

Allegation is made with regard to the discrepancy in the number of ballot papers found in the ballot box and the number of ballot papers counted.

Complaint has not been lodged before the respondents till date.

It appears that the result of the election was declared on 11th July, 2023 but till date no complaint has been lodged highlighting the illegalities. Accordingly, no relief can be granted to the petitioner in the instant case.

The writ petition fails and is hereby dismissed. Dismissal of the writ petition will, however, not stand in the way of the petitioners from approaching the appropriate forum by way of election petition, 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 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.)