Voting begins for re-polling in Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal

Voting began on Thursday morning, May 21, 2026, for re-voting in Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district amid tight security, officials said.

It was stated that more than 2.36 lakh people, including 1.15 lakh women and nine of the third gender, could vote in 285 booths in the re-voting that started at 7 am.

Voting for the Falta Assembly seat was held on April 29 in the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections. Following reports of large-scale irregularities, the Electoral Commission ordered re-polling in the constituency on 21 May.

There are a total of six candidates in the fray, including TMC’s Jahangir Khan, who announced his withdrawal from the race on Tuesday, May 19.

Even when Mr Khan announced his withdrawal from the contest, his name remained on the EVMs as he could not officially withdraw his candidacy. Other candidates include Debangshu Panda of the BJP, Sambhu Nath Kurmi of the CPI(M) and Abdur Razzak Molla of the Congress.

A total of 35 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) were deployed for the re-voting with eight personnel in each booth, equivalent to a full division, officials said.

They added that on April 29, only four personnel, or half a section, were assigned to each stand.

Additionally, 30 Quick Response Teams (QRT) are on standby to quickly respond to any disturbances.

Political tension remained high in the constituency as allegations emerged from multiple booths that perfume agents and adhesive tapes were applied to EVMs during the earlier polling.

Subrata Gupta, former Special Observer of the Election Commission, visited the constituency and conducted an inspection, following which evidence of alleged tampering was detected in at least 60 booths.

Apart from the alleged EVM manipulation, officials also found attempts to tamper with images captured by webcams installed at various polling stations.

Questions were then raised regarding the roles of booth level officers (BLOs), presiding officers, polling staff and election observers.

TMC has won the Falta seat since 2001, except for the 2006 Assembly elections when the CPI(M) won the seat.