West Bengal elections: Election Commission tells Supreme Court, central and state officials at counting centers

Trinamool Congress Only central government employees will be deployed as counting supervisors and assistants, election committee tell on saturday Supreme Court One official from the central government and one from the state government will man the two posts to maintain balance, thereby convincing the court that there is no need for judicial intervention in the counting process scheduled for May 4.At a special hearing held just two days after counting of votes, a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the TMC’s petition which claimed that allowing only central government employees at the counting table would undermine the neutrality of the counting process. The bench said the EC can select the vote counters based on the April 13 notification.Senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission, said the party’s fears were misplaced and baseless. He said if a central government employee is appointed as counting supervisor, the counting assistant will be a state government employee and vice versa and this pattern is followed in other elections as well.TMC senior advocate Kapil Sibal told SC that if both Center and state employees are involved, it is pleasant and should be followed in the true spirit.

Supreme Court: No additional order required, Election Commission follows notice

Thereafter, the court passed a brief order ending the dispute. “In the present case, no further order is required except recording the statement of Mr. Dama Seshadri Naidu that the Election Commission will implement the notification dated April 13, 2026 in true letter and spirit. With these clarifications, the special leave petition is dismissed,” the order said.The TMC has moved the SC challenging the decision of the Additional Chief Electoral Officer requiring counting of votes “at least one of the counting supervisors and counting assistants at each counting station who shall be a central government/central public utility employee”.The petition, filed through advocate Sanchit Garga, claimed that the decision “is arbitrary, without jurisdiction, discriminatory and creates legitimate apprehensions of bias as its main political opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is the ruling party at the Center (sic) and therefore exercises administrative control over central government/public sector employees.”