SC Issued Notice To Centre, West Bengal and ECI In Plea Seeking SIT Probe Into Post-Poll Violence

 

A PIL seeking a President's Rule in West Bengal was heard by the Supreme Court on Thursday and notices were issued to the Centre, the West Bengal government, and the Election Commission of India (ECI). However notice was not issued to Mamata Banerjee, president of the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), by the bench comprising of justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari.

The petitioners, Ranjana Agnihotri (Uttar Pradesh based advocate) and Jitender Singh (social worker) also prayed for directions to deploy armed paramilitary forces in order to bring normalcy in the West Bengal and  for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the causes and reasons behind post-poll violence in the state.

It was contented in the plea that the PIL has been filed in extraordinary circumstances as numerous residents of the West Bengal are being terrorized, penalised and tortured by the supporters of TMC for supporting Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) during the assembly polls.

Taking into account that the deteriorating state of affairs poses a threat to India's sovereignty and integrity, the petition sought direction from the court to  the central government to exercise its powers under Article 355 and Article 356.

Moreover, the plea said that the TMC workers and supporters have been causing chaos and unrest since the announcement of the assembly poll results on May 2, and have set the houses and properties of Hindus on fire, because they had voted for  BJP.

“The petitioners are espousing the cause of thousands of citizens of West Bengal who are mostly Hindus and are being targeted by Muslims to take revenge for supporting BJP as they want to crush Hindus so that for years to come the power may remain with the party of their choice,” the PIL read.

Despite the BJP complaining to the ECI against the communal appeal made by the TMC, the ECI failed to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner as mandated under Section 123 of the Representation of Peoples Act .

Since the law and order situation in the state posed a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India, petitioners sought a directive from the Supreme Court to the Central Government to exercise its powers under Articles 355 and 356 of the Constitution of India.