HC reserves order on TMC’s plea against exclusion of state employees from Bengal poll counting duty

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a plea by the Trinamool Congress challenging the Election Commission’s decision to mandate the deployment of Union government employees as counting supervisors during the West Bengal election results, Bar and Bench reported.

Polling was held in the state in two phases, on April 23 and Wednesday. The votes will be counted on Monday. The provisional overall voter turnout in the state was a record 92.4%, the Election Commission said.

Justice Krishna Rao heard detailed arguments from both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the poll body before reserving his judgement, Bar and Bench reported.

On Wednesday, the state chief electoral officer directed that at least one person at every counting station must be a Union government employee, Live Law reported.

Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, representing the Trinamool Congress, told the court that the direction was beyond the jurisdiction of the chief polling officer in the state as the Representation of People Act only mentions the Chief Election Commissioner and not state-level top officers, Live Law reported.

Bandopadhyay argued that persons who were unrelated to the election process were being brought in only for counting.

He questioned why Union government employees were being brought in at this stage when the entire polling process was conducted with the assistance of state government employees.

He added: “There is already a...

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