The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea by All India Trinamool Congress to postpone municipal elections in Tripura, scheduled on November 25, in the backdrop of alleged deteriorating law and order situation.
Postponing an election in a democracy is an extreme measure, as it may set off a wrong trend, it said.
A bench presided over by Justice D Y Chandrachud, however, directed the IG and DGP of Tripura to take steps to ensure municipal elections are conducted in a peaceful manner.
The bench, also comprising Justice Vikram Nath, stressed that postponing an election is a matter of last resort or extreme recourse.
The top court directed the police top brass to hold a joint meeting with the state election commissioner by Wednesday morning to assess if sufficient strength of paramilitary forces is available to conduct peaceful election.
The Tripura government, led by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, submitted detailed information on security arrangement for conducting municipal polls.
Senior advocates Jaideep Gupta and Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners, sought a direction to postpone the municipal election in view of alleged violence by ruling BJP members.
The All India Trinamool Congress claimed that law and order situation was worsening in the state. Even though the date for local body elections drew closer, the government authorities did not follow the top court’s direction on security arrangements, the TMC said.
Acting on the petition, the top court had on November 11, said since the election process has commenced, it is the bounden obligation of the state Home Affairs department and DGP to ensure that no political party, which is in the fray, is prevented from pursuing its electoral rights in accordance with law and from campaigning in a peaceful and orderly manner.
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(Published 23 November 2021, 11:22 IST)
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