Panchayat Polls:  HC tells DGP to probe huge turnout at village that boycotted voting

Justice Sinha was hearing a PIL filed by voters and Opposition candidates of Jyangra-Hatiara II village panchayat claiming that there was a call to boycott the vote during the rural polls as the place despite being under the New Town Kolkata Development Area (NKDA), remained part of a village panchayat.

The petitioners claimed that no one could cast their votes in the area owing to the boycott call, but at the time of the declaration of results, it was found that people voted in large numbers. They maintained that voting in large numbers could not have been possible since people were not permitted to leave their residences on the date of polling. It was further claimed that despite a complaint at the police station concerned, there was no response from the authorities.

Justice Sinha directed the DGP to conduct an enquiry to ascertain the allegation of the petitioners and submit a report to the court on August 3, the next date of the hearing.

The court said it will be open to the DGP to engage a responsible officer to conduct the enquiry, but the report will have to be filed by the DGP. The returning officer of Rajarhat block was also directed to file a report in the form of an affidavit by dealing with the contention of the petitioners.