‘Election Commission possesses full authority regarding appointments; no new order required’: TMC suffers setback in Supreme Court

May 2, 2026

The TMC has suffered a major setback from the Supreme Court ahead of the vote counting for the West Bengal Assembly elections. The Trinamool Congress had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Election Commission’s directive to primarily deploy employees of the Central Government and PSUs for the counting of votes.

To resolve this crucial issue, the Supreme Court convened a special sitting today and heard the TMC’s petition. The Supreme Court has categorically refused to issue any new orders regarding this dispute. In fact, the Election Commission has given an assurance to the Court that it will strictly adhere to its circular dated April 13.

According to the Trinamool Congress, this circular provides for the deployment of state government employees alongside central government employees in the vote-counting process.

Following this statement by the Election Commission’s counsel, the Supreme Court merely reiterated that the challenged circular would be implemented and declined to issue any further orders in the matter. It further observed that the Election Commission possesses full authority regarding appointments.

What is the full scope of the matter?

This entire case revolves around the appointment of personnel responsible for counting votes. The Election Commission had issued a directive stating that central government employees would be designated as Counting Supervisors for the vote-counting process in Bengal. The TMC is opposing this decision. They contend that state government employees should also be given equal representation in this process. To challenge this very order, the TMC filed a petition, which was subsequently heard by a bench comprising Justice Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

What clarifications did the Supreme Court judges provide regarding the rules?

During the hearing of the case, Justice Joymalya Bagchi clarified the position regarding the applicable rules. He stated that, under the existing rules, the option remains entirely open for both Counting Supervisors and Counting Assistants to be drawn from either the central government or the state government.

The Court observed that, given this option remains open, it cannot be asserted in any way that the Election Commission’s notification is contrary to the rules.
Justice Bagchi further clarified that the Election Commission possesses the authority to mandate that both sets of officials, the Supervisors and the Assistants, must be drawn exclusively from the central government.