Calcutta HC rejects TMC's plea against exclusion of State employees from vote counting supervisor duty

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition moved by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) against Chief Electoral Officer's decision to deploy only Central government employees as vote counting supervisors for the assembly elections in West Bengal.

Justice Krishna Rao rejected TMC's allegation that Central government employees are likely to be susceptible to the suggestion and control of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at Centre.

"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 Court said.

The Court also observed that it is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India (ECI) 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 Bench said.

The Court further said that the TMC can later file elections petitions to challenge the results in case they find the central government employees favouring BJP candidates.

"If the petitioner proves that the Central Government/Central PSU employees appointed as counting supervisor and counting assistants, helped the opponent of the petitioner by manipulating votes while counting the same, the petitioner has the liberty to take all the points in the election petition," the Bench said.

As per the ECI, the combined poll-percentage during the two-phases of recently-concluded State Assembly polls in West Bengal was 92.47 percent. The votes will be counted on May 4.

In a petition moved today, the TMC challenged Additional Chief Electoral Officer's order mentioning that “at least one among the counting supervisor and counting assistant at each counting table shall be a Central Government/Central PSU employee”

Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, representing TMC, argued that the Additional Chief Electoral Officer had no jurisdiction to pass such order.

Senior Advocate Jishnu Chowdhury, representing the electoral authorities, submitted that all the appointments have been made as per the procedure.

He said one political party cannot question the wisdom of the ECI. Chowdhury added that ECI preferred Central government employees to avoid any allegations of wrongdoing.

Considering the submissions, the Court noted that Section 19A of the Representation of the People Act of 1951 provides the delegation of the functions of the Election Commission.

Thus, it cannot be said that the Additional Chief Electoral Officer is not having the jurisdiction to issue such order, the Bench said.

The Court also noted that counting is to take place under the surveillance of CCTV cameras.

"In view of the above, this Court does not find any merit in the present writ application," the Court said as it dismissed the plea.

Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandhopadhyay with Advocates Dhruv Chadha and Shivam Pathak represented the TMC.

Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu with Advocates Abhinav Thakur, Pradeep Kumar, Kumar Utsov and Ghanshyam Pandey represented the ECI.

Senior Advocate Jishnu Chowdhury with Advocates Anamika Pandey, Sanskriti Agarwal and Rishika Pandey represented the CEO.

[Read Judgment]