Lack of coordination between govt and SEC: Cal HC

The Calcutta High Court today observed that there was a lack of coordination and communication between the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission on panchayat elections.
The court's observation came after the chief secretary and the home secretary submitted affidavits to the court on Justice Sanjib Banerjee's direction on July 12 asking why the order of July 10 on force deployment for the panchayat elections was not complied with by the state government.
Advocate-General Bimal Chatterjee submitted that separate affidavits had been filed as per the court order stating, the government had complied with the SEC's instruction on force deployment.

He submitted that the state government had already taken action, as per order, on movement of motorbikes in the poll-bound districts.
SEC counsel L C Bihani submitted that the state government had not intimated the SEC about this.
Justice Banerjee observed that there was a lack of coordination and communication between the state government and the SEC.

The court fixed July 17 for a review of the matter.
On July 12, the Commission's counsel said it did not get details of force deployment during the pre-poll period from the government as directed by the court.
The AG then informed the court that it had earlier provided SEC with details of force deployment on poll days as per an earlier direction of July 4 by the court.

The court had also directed on July 10 that the state ensure that more than one motorcycle was not used in rallies by any political party or candidate.
Not satisfied with the reply of the AG, the court had directed the chief secretary and the home secretary to clarify through affidavits, why its July 10 order was not complied with by July 15.