Election 2009 will be remembered as much for the “paribartan” plank as the graffiti growl by the election commission. But once the polls were over, political parties went back doing what they are best at — flouting the law.

Metro went around town to find walls bearing scars inflicted by the paintbrush brigade. Owners of private buildings are rarely approached for permission and the graffiti is almost never wiped clean. Government buildings are not spared either, despite the law against defacing public property.

And now with police joining the graffiti goons by rampantly plastering posters on cracker norms on private buildings before Diwali, residents have little hope for redress.

On Lenin Sarani, the walls of a private building near the Union Chapel Church are painted with SUCI graffiti. “They never seek our permission. But we didn’t lodge a complaint as it would only lead to trouble,” said the landlord.

A few metres away, the boundary walls of Calcutta Boys’ School on SN Banerjee Road have suffered the same fate. “The graffiti changes with time. Earlier, the Trinamul Congress sought votes for Swarnakamal Saha, its candidate in the Bowbazar bypoll. Then, it was the Left Front rally in Metro channel on August 31,” said a local shopowner. The Left Front graffiti has not been erased yet.

“Before the Lok Sabha elections, political parties sought our permission. But none bothers to approach us for rallies or other occasions,” said Raja McGee, the principal of Calcutta Boys’ School.

CPM leader Anadi Sahoo admitted that political graffiti was not erased because of lack of vigil. “But if any case is brought to our notice, we will ask our party workers to wipe off the graffiti,” he said.

The walls of government buildings, like that of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and Maniktala Drainage Pumping Station, have been defaced by graffiti on the July 21 Trinamul rally. “No one ever asked our permission,” said a senior official of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, whose walls also announce the Forward Bloc’s national congress in December.

“Defacement of any government property is a violation of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act,” said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

When asked about his party’s graffiti on government offices, Trinamul MLA Swarnakamal Saha admitted that the rule was flouted sometimes.

“I cannot deny that there are instances where wall graffiti is painted without permission. If we receive any complaint about defacement of public property, we ask local leaders to immediately erase the graffiti,” he said.

A senior IAS officer said the West Bengal Anti-defacement Act, 1976, had been repealed but provisions of the act were included through an amendment in 2008 in the acts governing civic bodies. “It is the duty of the local body to see that violations do not take place,” the officer added.

One such body is the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), which is responsible for taking action in areas under its jurisdiction. “The CMC has the right to penalise a private organisation but it does not erase political graffiti,” said a member of the mayor-in-council.