Supreme Court rejects Trinamool Congress plea on counting supervisors
The Supreme Court has dismissed the Trinamool Congress’ plea challenging the Election Commission’s decision to deploy Central government and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employees as vote‑counting supervisors in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
What the plea was about
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TMC objected to the exclusion of state government employees from counting‑supervisor and assistant roles, arguing that the EC’s April 13 circulars lacked jurisdiction and were arbitrary.
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The party had earlier approached the Calcutta High Court, which had already upheld the EC’s authority to appoint either central or state officers as counting supervisors and assistants.
Supreme Court’s reasoning
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A special two‑judge bench (Justices P. S. Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi) heard the matter urgently ahead of the May 4 counting and concluded that no further orders were necessary.
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The Court accepted the EC’s assurance that its circulars would be followed “in letter and spirit” and noted that counting‑supervisor identity as a “Central Government nominee” is essentially a matter of the Commission’s subjective satisfaction, governed by safeguards such as micro‑observers and CCTV.
Current arrangement for counting
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The EC has directed that, in each counting centre, one state government employee and one central government employee will be appointed as counting supervisor and counting assistant, respectively.
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TMC’s apprehensions of partisan bias or systemic irregularity were treated as speculative, and the Court declined to interfere, reinforcing the principle that judicial intervention in ongoing elections is limited to demonstrable illegality.
