Calcutta High Court orders ECI to close down offices of TMC, CPI(M) adjacent to polling station

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to immediately shut the offices of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M], located adjacent to a polling station in the Jadavpur Constituency [Dhiman Kundu vs State of West Bengal]..Single-judge Justice Rai Chattopadhyay initially expressed her view to demolish the said offices, which are temporary structures. The Court also noted that the voting for the Jadavpur constituency in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections is slated to take place on June 1. However, it considered the submission of the ECI that the said offices have usually been closing down during every elections, 48 hours prior to the polling day as mandated under the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). After taking into account the same, the Court said that the said offices be closed down."The ECI is directed to immediately close down the said offices," the Court ordered..It was hearing a plea filed by one Dhiman Kundu, an office bearer of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Jadavpur Unit. The plea highlighted 2007 guidelines issued by the ECI which barred any political party or candidate from setting up party offices or booths within 200 metres of the polling stations in any constituency. The plea pointed out that the TMC has a party office just adjacent to a polling station at Dinabandhu Andrews College in Jadavpur. Therefore, the plea sought immediate demolition of the said temporary structure. However, during the hearing, the counsel for ECI submitted that there is another office of CPI(M) and both the parties have been using these offices since long time. The court noted the submission that the offices have been long existing within 200 metres of the polling booth and they are functioning since long and shall be shut down before 48 hours of the polling."If the concerned offices even though functioning since long are not functioning commensurate to the applicable rules, immediate demolition is the only remedy for the authorities concerned," the judge initially said in her order. However, the ECI said that it cannot demolish the said structures and it would be the District Magistrate who has to carry out this exercise. The ECI also submitted that usually these offices close down 48 hours before the polling day as mandated under the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The Court, therefore, did not order demolition of the offices but said that they be shut down. .Advocate Amit Halder appeared for the petitioner.