Political parties in West Bengal, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court’s observations regarding the Election Commission’s guidelines on vote counting arrangements for the state Assembly elections.
The Supreme Court said no further intervention was required in a petition filed by the TMC challenging a Calcutta High Court order that had upheld the Election Commission’s circular on deployment of personnel for counting duties.
Following the development, BJP leader Amit Malviya said the court’s refusal to interfere marked a “legal setback” for the TMC, adding that repeated challenges to the counting process were being rejected by the judiciary.