SC refuses to stay Bengal poll surveillance tender, backs HC order

Kolkata: The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a plea by I-Net Secure Labs Private Limited, declining to interfere with an earlier order of the Calcutta High Court that had refused to stay work orders issued for a major surveillance project ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.

A Bench led by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that no case for interference was made out and dismissed the special leave petition, closing all pending applications.

The tender, floated on February 9 by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, relates to installation of surveillance systems for live web streaming during the polls. It requires large-scale deployment, including about 1.3 lakh cameras at polling stations and 3,000 CCTV cameras at counting centres. Eligibility conditions mandated prior execution of similar election assignments across at least three states.

I-Net Secure Labs, an unsuccessful bidder, alleged that eligibility norms were relaxed in favour of selected bidders. It contended that experience in Delhi was treated as “state” experience for one bidder, while its own work in Union Territories such as Puducherry and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu was not given similar weight. It also questioned whether another bidder had completed a “full state” assignment in Mizoram.

The state and authorities argued that Delhi enjoys a distinct Constitutional status under Article 239AA and that the Mizoram work met Election Commission guidelines.

Earlier, a Division Bench of Justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta had declined interim relief, noting that tender evaluation lies within the authority’s domain. With work orders already issued and implementation underway amid tight election timelines, the situation was found to be effectively irreversible. The High Court had directed that the matter be heard finally on the merits.