West Bengal: Voting begins at 15 booths of two assembly seats after EC orders repoll

Kolkata: Polling began in 15 polling stations in two assembly constituencies in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, where the Election Commission had ordered fresh polling a day earlier following reports of election fraud, an official said.

The re-polling was held in 11 polling stations in Magrahat Paschim assembly constituency and four polling stations in Diamond Harbour.

The official said voting started at 7 a.m. and will continue until 6 p.m.

Voting in these two assembly constituencies was held in the second phase of the state elections on April 29.

The Election Commission official said the decision for re-voting was based on reports from returning officers and observers from the two constituencies and “material circumstances”.

The BJP had alleged widespread election irregularities at certain polling stations of both the assembly seats in the Dimanod Port Lok Sabha constituency, represented by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The EC had appointed its special observer Subrata Gupta to verify the allegations from the field. Meanwhile, the EC will decide on the renewal of voting in the Falta assembly constituency on Saturday.

The West Bengal assembly elections were held in two phases, April 23 and April 29, amid unprecedented security arrangements.

The counting of votes will be done on May 4.