New Delhi, May 3 -- The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday assured the Supreme Court that state government representatives would be part of the vote counting process in West Bengal, prompting the top court to dismiss a plea by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on counting personnel. A special bench of justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said the poll panel's April 13 circular, which provides for a mix of central and state government employees in the counting process on May 4, was not contrary to law. It added that EC has the discretion to appoint counting personnel from either pool, dismissing the TMC's apprehension of bias. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the TMC, argued that the same order also requires one official at the counting table to be from the state government, which they said was not being followed by the Commission. The poll panel denied the charge as "completely misplaced" and said that it already ensures the presence of a state representative during counting. "That is a norm we followed even before they [TMC] said it," EC's counsel, senior advocate Dama Sesadari Naidu, said. He added that each candidate will also have their own counting agent. Naidu further said as part of the randomisation process, the counting supervisor and counting assistant are selected in a manner that ensures if one is from the central government, the other is from the state government. Naidu added that the returning officer, who has overarching authority over the entire counting process, is mandatorily an official from the state government service. Sibal then argued that the poll panel should be directed to follow the circular in its entirety and ensure the presence of a state government representative at the counting table. "This circular mandates at least one of the counting supervisors to be from the central government or PSU. All we want is that a state government nominee should be there. Our instruction is it is not being done," he said. EC assured the court that the circular would be implemented as prescribed....