BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY WEST BENGALversusSTATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS.

                          [2018] 6 S.C.R. 693                              693


                   BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY                                  A
                        WEST BENGAL
                              v.
                STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS.
                (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 302 of 2018)
                                                                           B
                           APRIL 09, 2018
  [R. K. AGRAWAL AND ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, JJ.]
       Election Laws – State Election Commission issued notifications
for panchayat elections – Petitioner, a political party alleged that
its candidates were not allowed to collect and submit the nomination       C
forms, on account of violent resistance by supporters of the ruling
party – Petitioner sought directions to the State Election Commission
to issue nomination papers on internet so that candidates of the
petitioner could apply through e-mail – Held: In Bodula Krishnaiah
case it was held that once the election process has been set in motion,    D
the Court ought not to interfere – In instant case, election process
has been set into motion, therefore the Court not inclined to interfere
– Furthermore, the West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act empowers
the State Election Commissioner to pass appropriate orders in relation
to any grievance, when made by any political party, or/and their
individual candidate including any independent candidate with              E
regard to any matter relating to and arising out of the election and
election process – Therefore, all political parties, their candidates,
including any independent candidate/s proposing to contest the
election in question, are granted liberty to approach the State Election
Commissioner with their any individual or/and collective grievance         F
– State Election Commissioner to ensure disposal of any such
grievance so made by the party concerned strictly in accordance
with law forthwith – West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003 –
Constitution of India – Art.32.
      West Bengal State Election Commission v. State of West               G
      Bengal & Ors. (Decision dated 28.06.2013 in S.L.P
      (Civil) Nos. 19928-19931 of 2013) ; Bharat Singh and
      Others v. State of Haryana & Others (1988) 4 SCC
      534 : [1988] 2 Suppl. SCR 1050 – referred to.

                                                                           H
                                  693
694             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                           [2018] 6 S.C.R.


A           Boddula Krishnaiah and Anr. v. State Election Commis-
            sioner, A.P. & Ors. (1996) 3 SCC 416 : [1996] 3 SCR
            687 – relied on.
                                Case Law Reference
        [1988] 2 Suppl. SCR 1050           referred to             Para 7
B
        [1996] 3 SCR 687                   relied on              Para 11
            CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (Civil)
      No. 302 of 2018.
            Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
C
           Mukul Rohatgi, P. S. Patwalia, Sr. Advs., Ms. Aishwarya Bhati,
      Kabir Shankar Bose, Partha Ghosh, Nachiketa Joshi, Shubhankar
      Chakraborty, Arijit Majumdar, S. Datta, Bharat Sood, Kallol Guha
      Thakurta, Shamba Dutta, Ms. Sukanya Dutta, Advs. for the Petitioner.
            Tushar Mehta, ASG, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Amrendra Saran,
D
      V.Giri, Sr. Advs., Suhaan Mukerji, Harsh Hiroo Gushahani, Sidharth
      Kalita, Ms. Astha Sharma (for PLR Chambers & Co.), Rajat Nair,
      Ms. Nupur Sharma, Rohit Bhat (for B.V. Balram Das), Advs. for the
      Respondents.
            The Order of the Court was passed by
E
             R. K. AGRAWAL, J. 1. By the present writ petition filed under
      Article 32 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioner seeks a writ of
      mandamus to direct the West Bengal State Election Commission-
      respondent No. 6 to issue nomination forms to the candidates of the
      petitioner so as to enable them to file their nomination in the ensuing
F     upcoming panchayat elections as also to take immediate steps to make
      arrangements for submission of nomination papers through email and to
      provide police protection to the candidates of the petitioner so as to
      enable them to collect and deposit the nomination forms for the purpose
      of contesting the panchayat elections already notified and also direct the
G     respondents Nos. 1 to 3 to call for Central Para-Military Forces to maintain
      the law and order during the conduct of the panchayat elections in the
      State of West Bengal.
            2. We have heard Shri Mukul Rohatgi and Shri P.S.Patwalia the
      learned senior counsels appearing for the petitioner and Dr. Abhishek
H
  BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY WEST BENGAL v. STATE OF                               695
      WEST BENGAL & ORS. [R. K. AGRAWAL, J.]

Manu Singhvi and Shri Amrendra Saran, learned senior counsel for the           A
respondent Nos. 1 to 4 and Shri Tushar Mehta, learned Additional
Solicitor General for respondent No. 7.
       3. Relying upon the newspaper reports which appeared in the
Times of India, Kolkata edition dated 03.04.2018 and 04.04.2018, the
Statesmen, Kolkata edition dated 04.04.2018 and the Telegraph e-paper          B
preview, the learned senior counsels for the petitioner submitted that the
petitioner’s candidates who want to contest election for the panchayat
which is to be held in the State of West Bengal are not allowed to collect
the nominations forms and to submit the same on account of violent
resistance being put by the supporters of the ruling party.
                                                                               C
      4. In support thereof, learned senior counsel for the petitioner
placed before us a chart showing the nomination report cumulative upto
04.04.2018 in respect of Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and Gram
Panchayat.
       5. At this juncture, learned senior counsel relied upon a decision      D
dated 28.06.2013 passed in SLP (C) Nos. 19928-19931 of 2013 titled
West Bengal State Election Commission Vs. State of West Bengal &
Ors. to impress upon the court that on earlier occasion also when the
panchayat election in the State of West Bengal was to be held in the
year 2013, then this Court exercised its powers and directed to re-schedule    E
the elections.
       6. Learned Senior Counsel, therefore, submitted that the State
Election Commission be directed to issue nomination papers on internet
which may be downloaded, filled and submitted on internet by the
candidates of the Petitioner as well as candidates of all other political      F
parties including those persons who want to contest the election as
independent candidates.
       7. The learned counsel for the respondent, however, submitted
that the writ petition has neither been filed by an individual candidate nor
any details have been given to show that any candidate has been                G
prevented by anybody from obtaining and filing the nomination papers.
Thus, in view of the decision of this Court in the case of Bharat Singh
and Others vs. State of Haryana & Others - (1988) 4 SCC 534, the
writ petition itself is not maintainable.
                                                                               H
696            SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2018] 6 S.C.R.


A           8. Further, relying upon the decision in Boddula Krishnaiah and
      Anr. vs. State Election Commissioner, A.P. & Ors. – (1996) 3 SCC
      416 wherein it was held as under:-
            “….11. Thus, it would be clear that once an election process has
            been set in motion, though the High Court may entertain or may
B           have already entertained a writ petition, it would not be justified in
            interfering with the election process giving direction to the
            election officer to stall the proceedings or to conduct the election
            process afresh, in particular when election has already been held
            in which the voters were allegedly prevented from exercising their
            franchise. As seen, that dispute is covered by an election dispute
C           and remedy is thus available at law for redressal.”
             Learned Senior Counsel for the respondent submitted that as the
      election process has been set in motion, this court should not pass any
      directions which may effect the elections. According to him, the State
      Election Commission is the appropriate authority to look into all these
D     grievances and in fact on 05.04.2018, the West Bengal State Election
      Commission had issued a Notification No. 632-SCC/3E-30/2018
      providing additional venue for filing nomination.
             9. Shri Tushar Mehta, learned counsel submitted that the
      respondent No. 7 can make arrangements for providing para military
E     forces if the State Election Commission makes a request or any
      directions is issued by this Court.
             10. In reply, the learned senior counsel for the petitioner invited
      the attention of the court to paragraph 6(o) wherein a specific mention
      has been made where a person who went to file his nomination was
F     severely beaten up and succumbed to the injuries.
             11. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the
      submissions made by learned senior counsel for the parties. It is not in
      dispute that the West Bengal State Election Commission had issued
      notifications 02.04.2018 for holding panchayat elections in the State of
G     West Bengal. Thus, the election process has been set into motion. In
      view of the decision of this Court, in the case of Bodula Krishnaiah
      (supra) wherein it was held that once the election process has been set
      in motion, the Court ought not to interfere, we are not inclined to
      interfere. However, the fact remains that according to the newspaper
H
  BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY WEST BENGAL v. STATE OF                                     697
      WEST BENGAL & ORS. [R. K. AGRAWAL, J.]

reports filed along with writ petition which has been referred to by the             A
learned senior counsel for the petitioner incidence of violence has taken
place when the candidates have gone to obtain and file their nomination
papers. This also stands fortified with the notification dated 05.04.2018
issued by the West Bengal State Election Commission where the State
Election Commission had provided additional venue for filing the
                                                                                     B
nomination papers.
       12. From the perusal of the Scheme and the provisions of the
West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003 (for brevity “the Act”), we
find that the Act has empowered the State Election Commissioner to
pass appropriate orders in relation to any grievance, when made by any
political party, or/and their individual candidate including any independent         C
candidate with regard to any matter relating to and arising out of the
election and election process.
       13. It is, therefore, essentially for the State Election Commissioner
to consider the grievance once made by any party or/and candidate as
the case may be and pass appropriate order/s keeping in view the nature              D
of grievance made and relevant factors concerning the election and its
process.
       14. We are, therefore, inclined to dispose of this petition by granting
liberty to all political parties, their candidates, including any independent
candidate/s proposing to contest the election in question, to approach the           E
State Election Commissioner with their any individual or/and collective
grievance.
      15. If any such grievances are made by any political parties
or/and any candidate/s in writing then needless to say, the State Election
Commissioner would ensure disposal of any such grievance so made by                  F
the party concerned strictly in accordance with law forthwith.
       16. We hope and trust that in order to ensure fair and free
election to the panchayats, the State Election Commission shall take
appropriate steps to remove the apprehensions of the petitioner and/or
intending candidates and they may not be deprived of their chance to                 G
contest the panchayat elections. With the aforesaid observations, the
writ petition is disposed of.


Ankit Gyan                                              Writ Petition disposed of.
                                                                                     H