The Calcutta high court has ruled that the Election Commission of India (ECI) cannot impose a blanket restriction on commuting by motorcycles in West Bengal during the ongoing assembly elections.
The court said it failed to understand why the ECI imposed restrictions on riding motorcycles two days before the polls.
The single bench of Justice Krishna Rao said in its order that the authorities cannot pass a blanket restriction on motorcycle riding in the name of free and fair polls.
The court referred to the standard operating procedure (SOP) followed by the ECI and the Central armed paramilitary forces (CAPF) deployed in Bengal.
It altered the ECI's directives and said that no motor bike rally shall be allowed on polling day-2 onwards, and no pillion riding on the motor cycle shall be allowed 12 hours before the polling day except in certain cases.
However, family pillion riding on motor cycle shall be allowed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on polling day for voting purpose and other essential requirements.
