Security forces available with state not enough for poll: SEC tells HC

In the affidavit of the state government it was stated that a total of 55,000 armed forces personnel are available at present and that additional force would be arranged from other states at the request of the commission.

In its reply,the state election commission said that central para-military forces would be required to conduct the poll after accessing the law and order situation in the recent times.

According to the estimate of the state election commission,more than 1,50,000 security force personnel would be required to conduct the poll. It said it was the aim of the commission to conduct free and fair elections,adding that the state government has no rights to raise any questions on it.

According to the reply,it is the obligation of the state government to arrange for the security force which is required by the state election.

It gave the details about the security arrangement for holding the elections.

It also alleged that the state government had never make it clear as to how the additional forces would be arranged from other states according to the requirement of the state election commission.

In its reply of nearly fifty pages,the election commission said that it has the right to challenge Section 42 of the West Bengal Panchayat Election Act 2003 which states that the state government would declare the date of poll after consulting the state election commission. But the state government had announced the poll date without consulting the state election commission,it said.

Justice Biswanath Somadder heard the case only for a shot time as the court had to rise for the farewell of Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia.

The case would next be heard on Thursday.