The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered repolling on May 2 in 15 polling stations across two Assembly constituencies in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, following reports of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering during the second phase of polling held on Thursday.
“Repolls have been ordered in 11 polling stations in the Magrahat Paschim Assembly seat and four polling stations in the Diamond Harbour Assembly constituency. We are still awaiting reports regarding the complaints from the Falta Assembly seat,” said a senior official of the poll panel in Kolkata.
Repolling will be held on May 2 from 7 am to 6 pm.
The ECI had received at least 77 complaints related to EVM tampering during the second phase of elections in West Bengal.
“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 said.
In all, 142 Assembly seats spread across eight districts went to polls in the second phase on Wednesday. Elections were held in 152 seats in the first phase on April 23. No orders for repolling were issued in the first phase.
EC officials said that in some cases, the buttons of a political party on EVMs were found to be covered with adhesive tape or blackened with ink, preventing voters from casting their votes. In others, attar was applied to the buttons so that anyone pressing them could be identified by rival parties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a repoll, alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was behind the tampering.
“In several polling booths, the option to vote for the BJP has been blocked using a tape, effectively preventing voters from exercising their choice. This is the so-called ‘Diamond Harbour Model,’ the same template that helped Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee secure his Lok Sabha seat. We demand an immediate repoll in all affected booths in Falta where such incidents have occurred. Booth 189 is also compromised in a similar manner along with several others,” Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, wrote on X on April 29.
In his post, Malviya uploaded three videos in which the EVM of Part 170 (Harindanga High School) was purportedly seen to have been compromised. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh hit back, saying, “The BJP knows very well that it is going to lose the elections in these constituencies. Hence, they are demanding repolls. They are just harassing the people. Voters would again have to stand in the queue and cast their vote. BJP would lose anyway.”
