Repolling in all 285 polling stations of West Bengal’s Falta assembly constituency began on Thursday morning amid tight security, with voters queuing up outside booths despite sweltering heat, Election Commission (ECI) officials said.
Polling began at 7am and voter turnout touched 20.47% by around 9am, officials said.
“Voting started at 7am at all the 285 polling stations amid tight security and was is underway peacefully. There were no reports of any untoward incident such as rigging and EVM tampering around 9am,” an ECI official said.
The ECI ordered fresh elections in all polling stations of the Falta assembly seat on May 21, citing “severe electoral offences and subversion of democratic process” in a large number of booths during the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 29.
“ECI received at least 77 complaints related to EVM tampering during the second phase of elections in West Bengal on April 29. While 32 came from Falta, 13 were received from Magrahat, 29 were received from Diamond Harbour and three were received from Budge Budge,” an official had said.
Repolling had earlier been conducted on May 2 in 15 polling stations across Magrahat Paschim and Diamond Harbour assembly constituencies. Results of the assembly elections were declared on May 4, with the BJP winning 207 seats and the TMC securing 80.
Falta had drawn attention ahead of the second phase of polling after Uttar Pradesh IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma, appointed by the ECI as police observer for South 24 Parganas, exchanged threats, though not directly, with TMC candidate Jahangir Khan.
Khan, considered a close associate of TMC national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, had then said he was unfazed by the threats and compared himself to ‘Pushpa’.
In a sudden development on Tuesday, however, Khan announced that he was withdrawing from the election.
“It was my dream that Falta should become ‘Sonar Falta’. The chief minister has said that a special package would be announced for Falta. That’s why I am stepping aside from contesting the repoll scheduled on May 21,” Khan told reporters.
ECI officials clarified that Khan’s announcement came after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations and, technically, he continued to remain a candidate in the fray.
The TMC later issued a statement distancing itself from Khan’s decision, saying it was his personal call and not that of the party.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari attacked Khan over his withdrawal announcement while addressing a rally in Falta on Tuesday.
“Where has the so-called ‘Pushpa’ gone? The people of Falta would have removed you anyway. Pushpa had earlier said ‘jhukega nahi’. Today ‘Pushpa’ fled and said that he doesn’t want to contest. Nephew can’t be seen anywhere. This is TMC’s trap. People would think the BJP has already won the Falta assembly and therefore need not come out to vote. I would say you haven’t been able to vote for many years. So, vote freely and without fear this time,” Adhikari said.
