West Bengal: EC orders repolling at 15 booths on May 2, mulls the same for 30 others

Kolkata: The Election Commission on Friday ordered repolling in 15 polling booths in two assembly constituencies of West Bengal, while demand for the same in about 30 booths in another constituency remained under its consideration.

The re-polling at four and 11 polling booths in Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim assembly constituencies would take place on Saturday, the EC informed in a letter to the state's Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal.

The EC declared the polling held in the 15 booths on April 29 as “void” after considering the “reports received from the concerned Returning Officers and the Observers”.

The two constituencies are among the 142 constituencies which went to the polls during the second phase of polling on April 29.

The EC had received 32 complaints about the conduct of repolling and demands for repolling in Falta, 29 from Diamond Harbour, 13 from Magrahat, and three from Budge Budge.

The commission, however, has not yet declared repolling in any booth in Falta and Budge Budge, according to the latest report.

The EC received multiple complaints of irregularities about the conduct of the elections during the second phase of polling, mostly from the Bharatiya Janata Party, with allegations ranging from intimidation of voters by the ruling Trinamool Congress’s supporters during the voting to tapes being applied on the EVMs to force voters to vote only for one candidate and manipulating the CCTV cameras to disrupt monitoring.

“The TMC, frustrated by the wave in favour of our party across West Bengal, resorted to such tricks in some booths in Magrahat and Diamond Harbour. So, we are happy with the EC’s decision of the repolling,” Suvendu Adhikari, the de facto chief ministerial candidate of the BJP, said.

He, however, demanded that repolling should be ordered in many other places, particularly in at least 60 polling booths in Falta, another assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas.

The EC had assigned its special observer, Subrata Gupta, the task of carrying out on-ground inspections in the four constituencies, where the demands for re-polling had come from.

“The BJP is aware it is headed for a heavy defeat in Diamond Harbour and Magrahat, which is why it is calling for repolling in these constituencies,” Kunal Ghosh, a senior TMC leader, said. “With the backing of the EC, it is compelling voters in these areas to undergo the hardship of casting their votes once more. The public mandate is against the BJP, and that verdict will not change, notwithstanding the repolling.”

Magrahat Paschim and Diamond Harbour are among the assembly segments of the Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency, which elected Abhishek Banerjee, the numero due of the TMC, to the Lok Sabha.