Kolkata: Repoll at 15 booths under two assembly constituencies— Mograhat West (11) and Diamond Harbour (4)— in South 24 Parganas of West Bengal recorded around 90% voters’ turnout amid peace on Saturday. There was no report of any untoward incident during the repoll.
The Election Commission (EC) announced repoll at the 15 booths on Friday after getting a report from special observer Subrata Gupta about the EVM tampering by using tapes on the BJP buttons while CCTV cameras were switched off during the second and final phase of the polls on April 29.
BJP had lodged a complaint to the EC on the electoral malpractices by Trinamul Congress. Protests however erupted at Falta, another neighbouring constituency, on Saturday afternoon when a group of villagers, backed by BJP, hit the streets, blocked national highway 17 at Hashimnagar for several hours and demanded a repoll also there.
They alleged that a TMC gram Panchayat Pradhan Israfil Sardar, who is a loyalist of ruling party candidate at Falta: Jahangir Khan, and his followers have assaulted and threatened them with dire consequences for casting their votes to BJP on April 29. The demonstrators also sought the arrests of Mr Sardar and others.
As the angry villagers burst into protests, a large number of central forces led by police observer Ajaypal Sharma were deployed immediately there. In the evening, the EC ordered the registration of an FIR against Mr Sardar and his aide Sujauddin Sheikh after getting a report. It has also warned the district police against any inaction.
Initially, some booths at Falta came under the radar along with others in the two neighbouring constituencies for similar claims of malpractices on the poll day. But the EC has not ordered a repoll there.
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