The division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the state government to inform the court by Monday of its views on the Opposition's demand of deploying central forces to conduct panchayat elections.

The division bench also asked the State Election Commission to inform by Monday whether the timeframe to file nomination papers could be extended beyond June 15, and if online filing of nominations could be introduced as sought by the Opposition.

It also asked the state poll panel if candidates could be allowed to submit their nomination papers before district magistrates and block development officers.

The bench made it clear that no civic volunteers and school teachers could take up election duty.

The orders were based on petitions by Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress seeking the court's intervention in these issues.

A day after panchayat poll date was announced as July 8, by the state poll panel, both the BJP and the Congress moved the high court to challenge the process of election.

Advocate Jishnu Saha, the counsel appearing for the state poll panel, prayed for time from the bench to get instructions from his client.

Appearing for the state government, senior counsel Kalyan Banerjee claimed that for local body elections, the decision taken by the state poll panel was final and according to a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, high courts did not have the jurisdiction to intervene once the election process had started.

Banerjee said the election process had started soon after the declaration of the poll date by the state poll panel. He argued that was no provision in law to file nominations online.

"Let the Centre modify the law, " Banerjee said.

At this, the Chief Justice said: "Let your government introduce the system. It would be an example. Scrutiny of the nomination papers becomes easier."

The Chief Justice said according to the primary view of his court, the time given by the SEC to file nominations was not enough.

The bench advocated for videography of polling and CCTVs in each and every booth.

The BJP counsel, Loknath Chatterjee, claimed it was impossible to file nominations to more than 75,000 posts in five days. He claimed things would be easy if nominations were filed online and before DMs and BDOs. He claimed Bengal saw widespread violence during the 2018 panchayat poll. "We want a peaceful election. That is why central forces are needed," Chatterjee said, adding it would not be possible for BJP candidates to file nominations without the central forces.

Lawyer Kaustav Bagchi, appearing for the Congress, also held similar views.

The case will be heard again on Monday.