The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday verbally asked the Election Commission why it needed to order the arrest of alleged “troublemakers” ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Live Law reported.

The bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Parthasarathy Sen was hearing a plea by an advocate who claimed that he had found out about the list from “multiple credible, trustworthy and independent sources”, Bar and Bench reported.

The plea claimed the purported list largely contains the names of Trinamool Congress workers, office-bearers and elected officials, Live Law reported.

The petitioner contended that any such arrests would amount to a “direct assault on personal liberty and the democratic process”.

The first phase of polling will be held on April 23 and the second on April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.

On Wednesday, the counsel representing the poll body told the court that there were “emergent circumstances” that required such measures, adding that the information was sensitive and could not be disclosed at the moment.

The counsel asked for time until Monday to file a counter affidavit in the matter.

In response, the chief justice verbally asked why there was a need for such an order.

“If there is an offence, they are described under the Acts, and there are statutory authorities who are under a duty to carry out the law,” Live Law quoted the chief justice as saying. “Those authorities have the power to ensure fair elections take place.”

The poll body’s counsel asserted that the order was required to tell the state administration that the persons on the list “cannot interfere” with the elections.

“Judicial officers were held at gunpoint and gheraoed,” the lawyer told the High Court. “The Supreme Court had come down heavily on us. They said it was our duty to take all steps necessary.”

Read Scroll’s coverage of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections here.

HC allows college faculty deployment for election duty

A separate bench of the High Court on Tuesday stayed a single-judge bench’s order that had disallowed the Election Commission to deploy government college faculty as presiding officers of polling stations in the state, Bar and Bench reported.

A division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta set aside Justice Krishna Rao’s Friday order in which he had held that the poll body failed to justify the “unavoidable circumstances” mandating such appointments.

On Friday, the single-judge bench had said the poll body’s power to appoint officials is not unfettered.

It highlighted that the body must comply with its own circulars, and pointed out that such appointments violate a 2010 circular that said unavoidable circumstances requiring the deployment must be recorded in writing, Bar and Bench reported.

The petitioner’s main argument was that the Election Commission had made procedural lapses in the process. It also alleged that the poll panel had failed to consider the rank, status and pay mandated by its own guidelines for such deployments.

However on Tuesday, the two-judge bench held that the Friday order could pose last-minute logistical challenges to the polling process.

“The effect of the order impugned before us will result in a chaotic situation,” the bench said. “The Election Commission will not be in a position to either requisition fresh persons to act as presiding officers and more importantly impart training to them.”

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