Kolkata

Senior Amit Malviya on Saturday said the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in the Election Commission’s decision regarding deployment of central government personnel for vote counting in West Bengal sends a strong message against attempts to question the integrity of the electoral process.

His remarks came after the Supreme Court of India declined to pass any further orders on a plea filed by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had challenged the dismissal of its petition by the Calcutta High Court.

In a social media post, Malviya described the development as another legal setback for the ruling party in West Bengal. He said the TMC had sought an urgent hearing over the Election Commission’s decision to appoint central government and PSU employees as counting supervisors instead of relying solely on state government staff.

According to Malviya, the apex court’s refusal to interfere indicates that attempts to influence or cast doubts on the vote-counting process would not receive easy judicial backing.

There was no immediate response from the TMC to his remarks.

A special bench comprising Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi observed that the Election Commission of India has the authority to choose personnel for counting duties and that its April 13 circular could not be considered legally flawed.

During the hearing, the Election Commission clarified that the counting process would involve a combination of central and state government employees, and argued that the TMC’s concerns over possible irregularities were unfounded.

The Commission also assured the court that its circular would be implemented fully and transparently.

Polling for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly was conducted in two phases on April 23 and April 29, while counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.

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Earlier, on April 30, the Calcutta High Court had dismissed the TMC’s petition, holding that there was no illegality in the Election Commission’s decision to appoint counting supervisors and assistants from central government departments and public sector undertakings.