On Saturday, the Supreme Court of India refused to intervene in a Calcutta High Court ruling that supported the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to utilize central government and public sector employees as counting supervisors for the West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled for May 4. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) had filed an appeal against an April 30 high court order, claiming that the deployment of only central government employees violated the ECI's circular, which called for a random selection of both state and central staff. However, the Supreme Court, represented by Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi, found the TMC's concerns unfounded, noting that the ECI was adhering to its guidelines, which included provisions for state employees as well. The high court had previously ruled that the ECI has the authority to appoint counting personnel and emphasized that the counting process would be monitored by micro-observers and candidate agents to ensure fairness. The court also stated that if any malpractice occurs during counting, the TMC retains the right to challenge the results in an election petition.