Counting Staff Dispute: TMC Approaches Supreme Court, Challenges High Court Verdict

A new controversy has emerged in West Bengal regarding the vote counting process. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has approached the Supreme Court against an order by the Calcutta High Court, which had dismissed a petition challenging the decision to deploy only Central Government and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employees at counting centers.

Mamata Banerjee’s party had questioned the decision to appoint Central Government employees as supervisors for the vote-counting process. This matter is now scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court on Saturday before a bench comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, as the vote counting is slated to take place on May 4.

Earlier, the High Court had stated that the appointment of State or Central Government officials as counting supervisors falls within the prerogative of the Election Commission. The Court further observed that if any irregularities were to occur during the counting process, the party could file an election petition.

What did the High Court say?

In its verdict, the High Court clearly stated that, in accordance with the law, the Election Commission possesses the authority to deploy employees from either the State Government, the Central Government, or PSUs for counting duties. The Court found no illegality in this arrangement.

The Court also noted that the counting rooms would not be occupied solely by supervisors and assistants; rather, micro-observers, candidates’ agents, and other staff members would also be present. Under these circumstances, the apprehension of irregularities cannot be deemed valid.

Arguments by the Election Commission and the TMC

Representing the Election Commission, it was submitted that this procedure has not been adopted exclusively in West Bengal, but was also implemented in Kerala. The Commission stated that such decisions are taken based on the prevailing situation.

Conversely, Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the TMC, questioned why Central Government employees were being deployed exclusively for the counting phase, given that State Government employees had been utilized throughout the entire election process. He termed this approach as discriminatory.

The Way Forward

The High Court further observed that if any candidate believes that rules were violated during the vote counting process and that such violations influenced the outcome, they are at liberty to file an election petition.