The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with an order of the Calcutta High Court directing the State Election Commission (SEC) to requisition and deploy central forces across West Bengal for the July 8 panchayat polls.

The pleas were filed by the West Bengal government and the State Election Commission. “Holding election cannot be a license for violence,” a vacation bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Manoj Misra observed during the hearing.