New Delhi: The Calcutta high court has on Wednesday (April 22) stayed the list of around 800 people the Election Commission of India (ECI) branded as ‘troublemakers’, calling for their preventative action or detention ahead of the Assembly elections, LiveLaw reported. The interim order comes a day ahead of assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.The high court observed that prima facie that the ECI cannot issue such a “blanket direction” when election offences are already governed by statute. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen bench passed the order, observing that the ECI cannot issue preventive detention orders against people in the absence of any cognisable offence, or law also called the list “stigmatic” as it took away people’s right to vote.“In our prima facie view the police observer in the office of Chief Election Officer, West Bengal has erred in issuing blanket direction by treating certain citizens as ‘trouble-makers’,” the bench said.The petition was filed through advocates Md Danish Farooqui and Ratikanta Pal, as per Bar and Bench.Senior advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the ECI’s memo stated that the persons named in an enclosed list were “actively involved in intimidating voters and creating disturbances in the electoral process”. The list includes elected representatives such as councillors, members of panchayat bodies, MLAs and MPs.Most of the people, The Wire has learnt through internal communication and documents reviewed, were Trinamool Congress MLAs and candidates.Bandopadhyay also said that offences relating to elections are already covered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Representation of the People Act, 1951, under which competent statutory authorities must independently exercise discretion.Advocate General Kishore Datta, appearing for the State of West Bengal, seconded this argument adding that “troublemaker” is not a category known to penal law. Senior Counsel Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission, sought time to file an affidavit.The court directed that any exercise of “preventive detention/action” must be undertaken strictly in accordance with relevant detention laws.It has ordered to stay the effect and operation of the impugned order “till the last day of June”, or till further order, whichever is earlier.It had been argued that the ECI could not issue a list of people to be preventively detained in the absence of any cognisable offence, or law. It was further stated that the ECI’s list was ‘stigmatic’ and took away people’s right to vote.