‘No further orders necessary’: Supreme Court disposes of TMC’s plea against ECI order on vote counting supervisors
On April 30, Calcutta HC had rejected TMC's plea challenging ECI order mandating that at least one among the counting supervisor/assistant at each counting table be a central government or central PSU employee.
by Ashish Shaji · The Indian Express · JoinSupreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: While hearing a plea filed by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order dismissing its petition against the deployment of central government and PSU employees as vote counting supervisors and assistants in the West Bengal assembly elections, the Supreme Court on Saturday observed that no further orders were necessary in the petition, except that the ECI circular dated April 13 would be implemented in both letter and spirit.
“No further orders are necessary in this petition except to reiterate the statement of Shri DS Naidu that the circular (ECI’s circular) dated April 13 will be implemented in letter and spirit,” the bench said in its order.
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This comes after senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing on behalf of TMC submitted that his limited grievance was that, in terms of the circular, there should be a nominee from the state government as well.
In response, senior advocate DS Naidu appearing for ECI stated that this had always been the norm followed.
Yesterday, a special bench of Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi was constituted to hear the plea as counting of votes begins on May 4.
Calcutta HC order: On April 30, Calcutta High Court had rejected TMC’s plea, which had challenged a communication issued by the additional chief electoral officer mandating that at least one among the counting supervisor or counting assistant at each counting table be a central government or central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employee. “It is the prerogative of the office of the Election Commission of India 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 high court had said in its order.
Live Updates
May 2, 2026 10:50 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing concludes
Hearing concludes, bench rises
May 2, 2026 10:49 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Bench dictates order
Bench begins to dictate order
Bench: No further orders are necessary in this petition except to reiterate the statement of Shri DS Naidu that the circular (ECI's circular) dated April 13 will be implemented in letter and spirit
May 2, 2026 10:49 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Bench dictates order
Bench begins to dictate order
Bench: No further orders are necessary in this petition except to reiterate that the circular will be implemented and followed in letter and spirit
May 2, 2026 10:46 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Senior advocate Kapil Sibal's submissions
Sibal: All we want is in terms of circular a state government nominee should also be there. Nothing more than that.
Bench: They have never said that there is no state government nominee
Sibal: We are saying there is none. One from central govt and one from state govt
Naidu: That is the norm we have followed even before they could point it out
May 2, 2026 10:44 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Sibal: Have state government employee there...A CCTV footage must be kept..They will destroy it afterwards
Naidu: We preserve it until the disposal
May 2, 2026 10:43 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Senior advocate DS Naidu: My friend may not have been properly informed about whats going on there. The returning officer has the overarching power and he is from the state government cadre
May 2, 2026 10:41 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Bench: This concept of proportionate representation....There is yet another fallacy in this that those belong to state govt have a different intelligence
May 2, 2026 10:39 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Bench: We can't hold the election commission notification acts contrary to the regulations
May 2, 2026 10:38 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Bench: Counting agents of all contesting candidates are there
May 2, 2026 10:38 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Bench: Counting agents of all contesting candidates are there
May 2, 2026 10:37 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Sibal: They wanted central govt nominee because they fear there is a possible irregularities that's pointing finger at the state government
May 2, 2026 10:37 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Sibal: They wanted central govt nominee because they fear there is a possible irregularities that's pointing finger at the state government
May 2, 2026 10:36 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Sibal: Circular itself says that you should have a state government nominee
May 2, 2026 10:35 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Sibal: Circular issued on 13th we get to know only on 29th
May 2, 2026 10:34 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing begins
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for petitioners
May 2, 2026 10:32 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Bench assembles
Hearing to begin shortly
Senior advocate DS Naidu for ECI is appearing through VC
May 2, 2026 10:31 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Bench assembles
Bench assembles
May 2, 2026 10:04 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Calcutta HC order
Calcutta HC's Justice Krishna Rao had rejected the plea which had challenged a communication issued by the additional chief electoral officer mandating that at least one among the counting supervisor or counting assistant at each counting table be a central government or central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employee.
May 2, 2026 09:59 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Calcutta HC order
Dismissing TMC's challenge to ECI order, the Calcutta HC on April 30 had observed that the ECI has the prerogative to appoint counting staff either from the central or state government, and choosing central personnel for counting proceedings cannot be termed illegal.
May 2, 2026 09:57 AM IST
Supreme Court TMC Plea Hearing Live Updates: Hearing at 10:30
A special bench of Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi will hear the plea at 10:30am
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