"Exposing herself": BJP slams Mamata Banerjee as TMC moves SC over EC supervisor rules

New Delhi [India], May 2 (ANI): The political temperature in India has reached a boiling point as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Election Commission's (EC) latest directive regarding counting supervisors.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP, with National Spokesperson Ajay Alok suggesting the TMC is "exposing" its own desperation ahead of the final tally.

Speaking to ANI, BJP National Spokesperson Ajay Alok didn't mince words, questioning the logic behind the TMC's persistent legal hurdles.
"She was rejected from the High Court and then went to the Supreme Court. What is she thinking? Did she even use to mess with the counting earlier? She is exposing herself in every step."
Alok went further, suggesting that the TMC's actions might lead to an unprecedented move in the history of the world's largest democracy.
Alok expressed concern that the TMC might choose to boycott the counting process entirely. He noted that such a boycott "will be a first in the history of Indian politics," labelling it a sign of weakness.
The controversy centres on the Election Commission's procedural updates for the counting day. After failing to secure a favourable ruling from the High Court, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party escalated the matter to the apex court.
The TMC argued that the EC's move lacks transparency, while the BJP maintained that the legal challenge is a pre-emptive strike to justify a potential electoral loss.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal clarified that the Supreme Court has not merely dismissed Trinamool Congress's petition over the deployment of central government employees for counting of votes, but rather agreed to their contention of implementing the Election Commission's circular.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Kapil Sibal said that the ECI's circular itself called for deploying both central government and state government employees on the day of counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly elections.
The apex court noted that no further orders were necessary in the case, except asking the Election Commission to implement the circular dated April 13 in true letter and spirit.
Sibal told reporters, "I do not comment on matters which I am representing in the court; however, this is an exception. In the High Court, the TMC had argued that the circular was wrong because it says that the Election Commission anticipates irregularities in counting on some booths, so every booth will have one central government officer deployed. A micro observer as the centre government's nominee is anyway present at the booths. The High Court said that the circular was correct".
In the Supreme Court, we decided not to challenge the circular; instead urged the court to implement the circular. The same circular read, 'Further, a dedicated module is being incorporated in ECINET for randomisation of counting personnel and generating a counting ID card.' It mentions the random selection of state and central government employees from respective databases for counting. In the Supreme Court, we argued that you are deploying a central government employee; deploy a state government employee, too. We were not challenging the circular; we said that implement it. The SC said that the Election Commission will follow the circular issued by them both in letter and in spirit. The media saying that our petition has been dismissed is wrong," the advocate for the petitioner in the case added. (ANI)