Controversy Over Supervisory Roles in West Bengal Vote Count

A petition claims that only Union government employees are appointed as supervisors for vote counting in West Bengal Assembly polls by the Election Commission. The Calcutta High Court will hear the matter, with concerns raised about why state employees are excluded from these supervisory roles.

The Calcutta High Court is set to examine a significant petition on Thursday concerning the appointment of supervisors for the vote counting process in the West Bengal assembly elections.

The petition alleges that the Election Commission has exclusively appointed employees from the Union government and central PSUs for these supervisory roles, a practice claimed not to be applied in other states that held elections recently.

The argument, presented by lawyer Kalyan Banerjee who is also a Trinamool Congress MP, challenges the jurisdiction of the chief electoral officer. Banerjee asserts that while state government employees were tasked with polling duties, they were inexplicably excluded from supervising the count, according to a recent order from the CEO.