Gd/Ssd vs The State Of West Bengal And Ors
2022 Latest Caselaw 1419 Cal

10 23.03.2022 WPA(P)/91/2022 SOUMENDU ADHIKARI gd/ssd VS THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS.

Mr. Rajdeep Majumdar, Mr. Srijib Chakraborty, Ms. Harshika Varma, Mr. Sayak Chakraborti, Mr. Mayukh Mukherjee, Mr. Anish Kumar Mukherjee, Mr. Surjaneel Das, Mr. Kaushal Agarwal, Mr. Amrit Sinha, Mr. Surojit Saha ..for the Petitioner.

Mr. Jayanta Mitra, Ms. Sonal Sinha, Ms. Jaweria Rusana ..for the State Election Commission.

Mr. S. N. Mookherjee, learned Advocate General, Mr. A. Ray, Md. T.M. Siddiqui, Mr. D. Ghosh, Mr. N. Chatterjee ..for the State

Mr. Joydip Kar, Mr. Anuran Samanta ..for ECI.

Mr. Vipul Kundalia, Mr. Somnath Adhikari ..for the Union of India.

In pursuance to the previous order of this court,

learned counsel appearing for the ECI has placed on

record the stand of the ECI contained in the

communication sent by the Under Secretary, ECI to the

Advocate.

As per the said stand the ECI has no experience

in conducting the forensic audit of video footage which

is stated to be the specialised function and in view of

the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of

State of Goa v. Fouziya Shaikh & Others reported in

(2021) 8 SCC 401, it is the sole responsibility of the

State Election Commission to supervise and conduct

elections and not only to carry out the constitutional

mandate but also to fill in gaps where there is no law or

rule governing a particular situation during the conduct

of an election. As per the communication the counsel

for the ECI has been instructed to decline the request

for getting the forensic audit of video footage done by

independent agency.

We take on record the stand of the ECI.

List on 29th of March, 2022.

(Prakash Shrivastava, C.J.)

(Rajarshi Bharadwaj, J.)

e