Bengal polls: Re-polling in 15 booths in South 24 Parganas on May 2​

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India on Friday announced re-polling at 15 polling booths in two Assembly constituencies, Magrahat (Paschim) and Diamond Harbour, both in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.​

Of the 15 polling booths where re-polling will be held on Saturday, 11 are in Magrahat (Paschim), and 4 are in Diamond Harbour. Polling in both these Assembly constituencies was conducted in the second phase of the two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal on April 29.​

According to a statement issued by the Election Commission of India on Friday afternoon, the decision for re-polling for these 15 polling booths under these two Assembly constituencies had been taken based on reports from the returning officers for the said polling stations and the general observers following complaints of large-scale electoral malpractices on the polling day.​

Meanwhile, insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said there is a possibility of re-polling in as many as 30 polling booths under the Falta Assembly constituency, in the Diamond Harbour subdivision, also in the South 24 Parganas district.​

Following complaints of the Electronic Voting Machine button besides the name and symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Falta, the Election Commission of India ordered a thorough investigation into the matter.

Instead of the returning officers of the polling booth and the general observer for Falta, the investigation was conducted at the ground level by the Election Commission of India-appointed special observer, Subrat Gupta, himself.​

He reached Falta on Thursday morning from Kolkata and, after a day-long ground-level inspection in the matter on Thursday, Gupta finally recorded re-polling for 30 polling booths in Falta,” said the Chief Electoral Officer’s office insider.​

Earlier, the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded re-polling for the entire Falta Assembly constituency.​

Even before the elections at Falta on April 29, the situation in the entire constituency was quite tense over the battle of dialogues involving the Election Commission of India-appointed special police observer for Diamond Harbour subdivision, Ajay Paul Sharma, an Indian Police Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, and the Trinamool Congress candidate from Falta, Jahangir Khan.​

Reports of scattered electoral violence also surfaced on the polling day. Even on Friday, the situation there became tense over clashes between Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party supporters.

​IANS