India, May 2 -- In a setback to the Trinamool Congress, the Supreme Court on Saturday upheld the Election Commission's prerogative to appoint central government staff as counting supervisors for the West Bengal vote counting process. The Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi declined to pass any further order after accepting ECI's submission that TMC representatives will be there during the counting of votes.

The plea was filed against the order of the Calcutta high court, which had dismissed the petition on Thursday. The high court said it is the prerogative of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to appoint the counting supervisor and the counting assistant, either from the State government or the Central government.

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