Plea In Calcutta HC Against ECI Move To Deploy Only Central Staff For Counting

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to deploy only Central government employees for the counting process in the West Bengal Assembly elections has been challenged before the Calcutta High Court. Polling for the Assembly elections was held in two phases on April 23 and 29.

West Bengal recorded an unprecedented voter turnout in the legislative Assembly elections, which concluded on Wednesday.

According to the ECI, the overall voter turnout across the two phases stood at 92.47%. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.

As per a Bar and Bench report, Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, appearing for a petitioner, on Thursday mentioned a plea before Justice Krishna Rao seeking urgent listing in connection with the counting process.

Bandopadhyay argued that the order mandates the appointment of counting supervisors from the Central government and public sector undertakings, raising questions over the Chief Electoral Officer’s jurisdiction. He pointed out that such a measure has not been adopted in other states and contended that, under Article 12, the appropriate government in this case is the State government.

He further submitted that although the circular had been issued earlier, it was circulated only on Wednesday.

The Court agreed to list the matter at 2 PM.