Kolkata, April 28: A fresh legal challenge has been filed in the Calcutta High Court by the Trinamool Congress against large-scale preventive arrests carried out across West Bengal ahead of the second phase of Assembly elections, intensifying the legal scrutiny over enforcement actions directed by the Election Commission of India.
The petition, filed a day before the second phase of polling, contests the preventive detentions conducted between April 26 morning and April 27 evening. The Election Commission had instructed such actions as part of election preparedness measures in the state.
According to data shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, a total of 1,095 preventive arrests were made within 24 hours from Sunday evening, while the figure rose to 1,583 arrests over a 36-hour period starting Sunday morning. The arrests were reported across multiple districts, with East Burdwan recording the highest number at 479, followed by North 24 Parganas with 319, South 24 Parganas with 246, Kolkata Uttar with 109, Hooghly with 49, and Nadia and Howrah with 32 each.
Senior advocate and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee moved a division bench of the Calcutta High Court, presided over by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, alleging that at least 350 preventive arrests violated an earlier court directive.
The petition argues that the detentions are inconsistent with the High Court’s April 22 order, which had permitted preventive arrests under law but barred indiscriminate detention of individuals merely on the basis of being labelled as potential “trouble-makers.”
Banerjee sought an urgent hearing in the matter, and the court has admitted the petition. The case is expected to be heard later in the day.
Among those arrested during the preventive action drive was Narugopal Bhakat, Trinamool Congress councillor of Ward 22 in Burdwan town, East Burdwan district. The arrest list also includes four individuals detained in connection with a clash between Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress supporters at Jagatdal in North 24 Parganas on Sunday night.
Those arrested in connection with the clash have been identified as Koushik Das, Sikander Prasad, Gopal Routh, and Shyamdev Shaw.
The legal intervention comes amid heightened political activity and security enforcement ahead of polling, with the court now set to examine whether the preventive detention measures align with its earlier ruling and existing legal provisions governing such actions.
