Kolkata, April 18 -- The Calcutta high court on Friday set aside an Election Commission of India (ECI) order that appointed assistant and associate professors from government colleges as presiding officers in polling booths for the two-phase Bengal assembly polls on April 23 and 29. "The ECI said in a 2010 directive that professors, assistant professors and associate professors cannot be employed as presiding officers in polling booths unless circumstances are extraordinary. After hearing a petition filed by Rupa Banerjee, who was posted as presiding officer, the bench of Justice Krishna Rao said that the ECI failed to establish that her posting was unavoidable," Shamim Ahmed, one of the petitioners' lawyers, told the media. Following Banerjee, many assistant and associate professors went to court, arguing that posts such as professor and assistant professor fall under Group A. Representing ECI, senior advocate Soumya Majumdar said postings according to rank and pay may not always be possible given the manpower required....