The Trinamool Congress on Friday approached the Supreme Court, challenging the additional chief electoral officer's decision that requires at least one counting supervisor or counting assistant at each counting table to be a central government or central public sector undertaking employee for the vote count in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly elections.
The party sought an urgent hearing as counting is scheduled for Monday, May 4. The Supreme Court agreed to list the case on Saturday, and a special bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi has been constituted to hear it. The move came after the Calcutta High Court rejected the party's plea.
In an appeal filed through advocate Sanchit Garga, the Trinamool Congress alleged that the decision was arbitrary, without jurisdiction, discriminatory, and created a reasonable apprehension of bias. The party argued that its principal political opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is the governing party at the Centre and thus exercises administrative control over central government and PSU employees.
The petition stated that this sudden and selective change in procedure, applicable only to West Bengal and not to other states where elections were held simultaneously, vitiates the principles of a free and fair election.
The petitioner noted that the Election Commission has already laid down a comprehensive framework under the Handbook for Counting Agents, 2023, which provides for the presence of micro-observers, invariably central government or PSU employees, at each counting table to ensure transparency and integrity. Despite these safeguards, the communication introduces an additional and disproportionate requirement mandating central government or PSU employees as counting supervisors or assistants, over and above the micro-observers already present.
The petition argued that the requirement was imposed without disclosing any objective criteria, material basis, or transparent reasoning, and was purportedly founded on vague and unsubstantiated apprehensions regarding irregularities in the counting process.
The effect of such a directive, according to the petition, is to significantly alter the composition of personnel at the counting tables by disproportionately increasing the presence of individuals under the control of the central government without any corresponding representation or balancing mechanism. This creates a reasonable apprehension of bias, undermines the neutrality of the counting process, and disturbs the level playing field between contesting political parties.
The petition further stated that the timing of the communication, having been clandestinely issued to all district electoral officers a month after the announcement of the election date and immediately before the commencement of the first phase of elections in West Bengal, gives rise to a serious apprehension of mala fides and indicates an attempt to interfere with the conduct of free and fair elections at a crucial stage of the electoral process.
