Calcutta HC orders temporary shut down of Trinamool, CPI-M offices near polling station

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the immediate closure of temporary party offices of both the Trinamool Congress and the CPI-M, located within 200 metres radius of a polling station under Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district.

Jadavpur is among the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in the state that will be going for polls in the seventh and last phase of the 2024 elections on June 1.

A vacation bench of Justice Rai Chattopadhyay gave this direction following a complaint by BJP leader Dhiman Kundu, which argued that since these temporary party offices are located within 200 metres radius of a polling station at Dinabandhu Andrews College in Garia area in southern Kolkata, there is every possibility of the polling process being influenced on the polling day.

During the hearing, Justice Chattopadhyay initially observed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should immediately initiate the process to demolish these party offices. However, its counsel informed the court that the poll panel does not have the authority to demolish any construction and only the District Magistrate could do that.

Thereafter, Justice Chattopadhyay ordered the closure of the two party offices and that this be done 48 hours before polling day.