On Monday, the Supreme Court of India refused to hear on an urgent basis a plea seeking the extension of central forces in West Bengal due to fears of post-poll violence. The court noted that law and order is a prerogative of the political executive and that the state machinery was not to be interfered with by the courts.
A bench, consisting of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, observed that since polling has been conducted and counting of votes is still going on, there was no great urgency to pass directions at this stage. The bench commented by saying that they should leave the running of the state to political executives, who would decide whether to do so.
The plea, which senior advocate V Giri requested on behalf of the sanatani Sangsad, sought a continuance of central deployment of police forces after polling, and a monitoring mechanism to be monitored by a retired Supreme Court judge. The petitioner referred to the incidences of post election violence in the state in the past and argued that preventive measures were needed to ensure there was peace.
The court however raised the issue of the time the request was made as the electoral process was already over. It implied that the immediate issues might be resolved by the jurisdictional high court instead.
Only submissions on behalf of the Election Commission of India suggested that its functions mainly end once the process of polling has been accomplished. It has been set down by the apex court to hold a further hearing on the matter on May 11.
The observations highlight the judiciary attitude towards observing the functional boundaries of the institutions, notably the sensitive electoral processes.