West Bengal Assembly polls: Calcutta High Court rejects TMC’s challenge to ECI order on deploying central staff in vote counting

Justice Krishna Rao heard the matter on April 30.

“It is the prerogative of the office of the Election Commission of India to appoint the counting supervisor and counting assistant either from the State Government or the Central Government. This Court does not find any illegality for appointing counting supervisor and counting assistant from the Central Government/Central PSU employee instead of State Government employee,” the Calcutta High Court said in its order dated April 30.

Arguments

• Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandhopadhyay, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the additional chief electoral officer, West Bengal, had issued the impugned communication without any jurisdiction.
• He further submitted that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has fixed the counting of votes for the state Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal for on May 4, 2026.
• He argued that in other places, the ECI did not appoint any central government or central PSU employees as counting supervisors or counting assistants but only in West Bengal.
• On the other hand, Senior Advocate Jishnu Chowdhury, appearing for the additional chief electoral officer, submitted that the petitioner had filed the plea only on apprehension.
• He submitted that the additional chief electoral officer, West Bengal, had issued the said communication only for the purpose of ensuring, transparency, integrity and orderly conduct of counting proceedings.
• Senior advocate DS Naidu appearing on behalf of ECI relied upon the provision of Section 20A and 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and submitted that there is a provision of delegation. It was argued that the writ petition was filed with the intention of stalling the vote counting scheduled for May 4, 2026.
• He submitted that the petitioner was fully aware of the impugned communication, which was already in the public domain, yet chose not to challenge it at an earlier stage.

‘Not illegal’

Rejecting the contentions of the petitioner, the Calcutta High Court noted that counting is conducted under CCTV surveillance. It added that apart from the counting supervisor and the counting assistant, micro-observers, counting agents of the candidates who are contesting the election and counting personnel will also be in the counting room.

“Only the counting supervisor and the counting assistants will not be in the counting room. Micro observers, counting agents of the candidates who are contesting the election and counting personnel will also be in the counting room. Thus, it is impossible to believe the allegation made by the petitioner,” the Calcutta High Court noted.

The court held that the ECI has the prerogative to appoint counting staff either from the central or state government, and choosing central personnel for counting proceedings cannot be termed illegal.

Dismissing the petition, the court clarified that if any malpractice occurs during counting, the petitioner would be at liberty to challenge the same in an election petition.

“If the petitioner finds that during the counting, the Central Government employees who have been appointed as counting supervisor and counting assistants or favoured the candidate of the BJP due to which the candidate of the petitioner defeated, the petitioner has the liberty to challenge the same in an election petition,” the Calcutta High Court concluded.