A former legal chief of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board has written to the Chief Election Commissioner of India demanding compensation for party workers, electors, government officials and any other person severely injured or killed while participating in the election process in the state.
“The Centre, or the state government, or the state or central Election Commission should pay compensation also to journalists and reporters who suffer serious injuries or die in the process of covering the election process,” writes Biswajit Mukherjee, former chief law officer of West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) and currently secretary, Legal Aid Centre, Sabujer Avijan, Chandannagar. A copy of the letter, dated March 18, 2026, is with The Plurals.
“I have not received any response from the election commission so far; however, earlier when I made a similar appeal to them, they had shifted the responsibility to the state government. My high court petition on the same issue is also spending in Calcutta High Court,” said Mukherjee to The Plurals on Saturday evening.
Innocents caught in crossfire
The letter notes that many innocent people had got caught in the crossfire during violence between opposing parties in previous elections held in the state — for Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, municipal corporations and Panchayats. This violence has affected a wide spectrum of people — party workers, supporters, election workers, polling agents of political parties, government officials conducting polling and voters at polling booths who came to exercise their democratic rights. Many have been beaten brutally or murdered. Mukherjee calls the lives lost as a result of violence during elections as the “Martyrs of Democracy”.
“It is pertinent to mention here that during the last Panchayat election conducted in our state in 2023, more than 40 people, who were mainly political workers and/or party supporters, died, and several other people suffered serious injuries. During Panchayat election in 2018 about 20 people died due to the violence that occurred between political parties within the state,” the letter adds.
Administration legally responsible to compensate
The violence and the deaths during the 2018 elections prompted the then Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee of Calcutta High Court to pass an order on May 10, 2018, that placed the responsibility of security lapse and the compensation to follow on the state government and the election commission.
“If … it is found subsequently that the security arrangements which were made by the State Government and were approved by the State Election Commissioner are inadequate and insufficient and due to inadequacy of such security arrangement any poll violence casualty occurs…then not only the State Government will be liable to compensate such loss of life and property of the affected persons but also the high State officials who submitted such report and the State Election Commissioner who approved such report with regard to adequacy of such security arrangement will be personally liable to compensate such loss …,” the order reads. Mukherjee argues that in case of state and parliamentary elections, conducted under the Election Commission of India, such responsibility comes under the agency.
Four-fold demand
The letter states that democracy in India is seriously flawed if people have to sacrifice their lives for participating in the political process of the country. It reminds that “the Constitution has vested the election commission with the powers to direct and manage funds in case of exigencies and therefore the responsibility lies upon the election commissions, both state and central, to create an effective mechanism to control, curve and compensate the loss suffered by the ‘Martyrs of Democracy’.”
“The election commission has been created as an autonomous body under Article 324(1) of the Constitution of India with the sole responsibility of impartially and peacefully conducting the election process, but now it seems that unless appropriate directions are passed upon them, the election commissions, both central and state, are not willing to accept such responsibility,” the letter further says.
Mukherjee demands the followings:.
1. To make provision for adequate and strict security to prevent serious injuries or death.
2. Central forces should be deployed to identify unlicensed fireworks manufacturing units and also close them down as such units are the main sources of bombs causing injury or deaths during elections.
3. To pay adequate compensation to any person affected.
4. According to current guidelines for physical injury inflicted on election workers, there is a method of due compensation through LIC policies. Such safety valves have to be extended to voters, who are the pillars of our democracy, and to election agents, workers, candidates and journalists covering the election process.