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

Tentagraph Newsroom·May 1, 2026

New DelhiUpdated: May 1, 2026 10:28 AM IST Outside the EVM strong room at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in Jorasanko Assembly constituency in West Bengal on Thursday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)Calcutta High Court news: The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a plea filed by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) challenging the deployment of central government and PSU employees as counting supervisors and assistants in the West Bengal assembly elections, holding that the decision falls within the domain of the Election Commission and does not suffer from any illegality. Justice Krishna Rao rejected the plea, which had assailed a communication issued by the additional chief electoral officer mandating that at least one among the counting supervisor or counting assistant at each counting table be a central government or central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employee. 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. ‘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.Story continues below this ad “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. Ashish Shaji is a Senior Sub-Editor at The Indian Express, where he specializes in legal journalism. Combining a formal education in law with years of editorial experience, Ashish provides auth