After SC order on central forces, TMC confident of victory in rural polls; oppn sceptical of SEC's impartiality

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday expressed confidence that it will win the panchayat polls even after the Supreme Court rejected the West Bengal government's plea against the deployment of central forces as, the party asserted, the verdict will have no bearing on its electoral prospects.

The opposition parties, however, hoped that the order will be followed in letter and spirit by the State Election Commission (SEC) without any bias towards the TMC which was accused of resorting to violence and not allowing opposition candidates to file nominations.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court dismissed pleas challenging a Calcutta High Court order directing the SEC to requisition and deploy central forces across West Bengal for the upcoming panchayat elections.

Widespread violence over the filing of nominations for July 8 polls has left at least five people dead and several injured in various parts of the state.

"We fully respect the judiciary and will abide by the court order. But we did not want the deployment of central forces for rural polls. Deployment of central forces will only lead to confusion," TMC MP Sougata Roy told PTI.

He cited previous instances, such as the 2013 rural polls and various subsequent elections where the TMC emerged victorious despite the deployment of central forces.

"We are confident about the victory of the TMC in the panchayat polls, based on the development work we have done in the last 12 years," Roy said.

In the 2013 panchayat polls, the TMC, then just in power for two years, won over 85 per cent of the seats.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari welcomed the apex court's ruling and wondered why the TMC opposed the deployment of central forces if it is so confident about victory.

"We hope that the court's order will be followed in letter and spirit. The TMC's vote loot machinery has to be stopped at any cost," the BJP leader said.

In the rural polls held five years ago, the TMC won 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all 22 Zilla Parishads. However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices. At that time also, the opposition had alleged they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats across the state.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was apprehensive about the utility of the central forces as their deployment and usage will depend on the SEC.

"The deployment of central forces will be done by the SEC and the state administration. So we are apprehensive about properly utilising it," he said.

Expressing hope for the creation of a peaceful atmosphere conducive to free and fair elections, CPI (M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty urged the SEC to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities.

A vacation bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Manoj Misra said the fact remains that the tenor of the high court order is ultimately to ensure free and fair elections in the state since it is conducting local body polls on a single day.

The high court had on June 15 directed the SEC to requisition and deploy central forces across West Bengal for the panchayat elections within 48 hours.

The court had noted that no appreciable steps had been taken ever since it passed an order on June 13 to deploy central forces in sensitive areas for the poll process.

The high court had directed the SEC to requisition central forces for deployment in all the districts of the state that were rocked by violence during the filing of nominations for the July 8 panchayat elections.