‘Leave no stone unturned’: Calcutta High Court intervenes as Bengal govt, ECI clash over basic booth facilities

The division bench heard the matter on March 25.

Expressing concern over loggerheads between the state and ECI regarding which agency should complete the work, the court added that we hope and trust that ECI and the state will ensure that the AMF/EMF facilities are made available to the citizens in the next election.

PIL for election booth facilities

• The PIL, filed by Samik Bhattacharya, sought to ensure the enforcement of the ECI’s June 2023 order, which requires the enforcement of AMF and EMF at every polling station.
• These facilities include ground-floor polling stations equipped with functional ramps, essential provisions such as drinking water, electricity, and adequate furniture.
• It also includes amenities, including toilets, signage, shade, and creches for children, voter assistance booths, medical kits, and volunteers for queue management.
• The petitioner also pointed to the appointment of a fit and proper agency to undertake the task of ensuring the availability of AMF/EMF facilities in all polling booths.

Dispute over who execute facilities

• There is a conflict between the West Bengal state government and the ECI regarding which body should execute these upgrades.
• After the ECI expressed its inability to undertake the said work, the state government appointed the education department as its nodal agency to undertake the work about AMF/EMF facility.
• The stand of the state government is that the school education department is declared as the nodal department for undertaking such an exercise.
• The decision was taken because the majority of polling booths are in the schools and, therefore, upgradation of the facility will ultimately benefit the said schools even in post election scenario.
• It was pointed out that initially, a fund of Rs 50 crore was released to District Magistrates and District Election Officers (DEOs) as an advance to take up this work, which was followed by the release of another Rs 118 crores.

ECI’s position

• The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, had proposed engaging NBCC (India) Ltd for the AMF/EMF works.
• The state government, in response, sent a communication on February 19, 2023, and informed that the said work has already been entrusted to the school education department.
• It stated that the school education department has the proper expertise to complete the said work.
• The CEO, in turn, sent a communication on March 5, informing that upon review of certain districts conducted by the senior deputy election commissioner, certain shortcomings were found in relation to AMF/EMF in the North 24- Parganas district.
• By highlighting the shortcomings in the communication dated March 5, the state was directed to do the needful on a priority basis.

Court’s findings

• The concern of the petitioner of this PIL must be in relation to the availability of voter facilities.
  Which agency should undertake, carry out, and complete this work is none of the concern of the petitioner.
• The state government and the ECI have taken diametrically opposite stands as to which agency should complete the said work.
• Advocate General has taken pains to contend that when an agency, i.e., the one appointed by the ECI, expressed its inability to undertake the work, a nodal department, namely, the school education department, has been appointed.
• The funds have been released, work has been started, and this practice is not unknown to the election process in the state of West Bengal.
• It is canvassed that the appointment of a nodal agency by the state in the election process is not a practice unknown to the ECI, and the state government undertakes to ensure that if there exists any deficiency in facilities, it will be cured during the preparation of the next election.

• In the previous parliamentary election, the school education department was appointed as the nodal department, which had undertaken a similar exercise.
• He further submitted that this time, when such a nodal agency was appointed, the ECI had undertaken a review in district North 24 Parganas and pointed out certain deficiencies about the said facilities, and in the same letter dated March 5, 2026, requested the state government to cure the shortcomings on topmost priority.

Power of the Election Commission

• Sounding a contra-note to the stand of the state government, the ECI stand is that under Article 324 of the Constitution of India, full powers to conduct free and fair elections are in the hands of the Election Commission of India.
• This power not only includes the aspect of voting and preparation in this regard, but it also covers the entire election process, including the administrative work to be undertaken to ensure the smooth conduct of elections.
• In this PIL, the only concern of the petitioner is to ensure that facilities are made available at the ground level.
• The petitioner has no locus to ask that a particular agency, i.e., as desired by ECI or the state government, should undertake the said exercise.
• In this PIL, we are not inclined to decide whether the agency nominated by the ECI or the state government is best suited to complete the said exercise.