West Bengal polls: EC scraps Falta election citing irregularities, repoll ordered on May 21, counting on May 24

KOLKATA/FALTA: On Monday, Bengal's electoral fate will be decided on the basis of 293 seats as the Election Commission on Saturday countermanded the elections held in Falta assembly constituency citing "electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during polling in a large number of polling stations". A repoll has been ordered on May 21, with counting of votes on May 24.

This is first time in Bengal that an entire assembly constituency will vote after results for the assembly elections are declared.



Investigation into complaints has revealed tampering of EVMs at several booths by applying black masking tapes and ink on buttons, the EC said. "EVMs in as many as 60 polling stations were found to have been tampered with. These amounted to 21% of the total number of polling stations in the constituency (285). As many as 22.82% of electors or 53,967 of the total 2.36 lakh were enrolled for voting at these polling stations. Therefore, this compromised the integrity of the recorded votes and made it impossible to ascertain the mandate of the electorate," the EC said, adding that the possibility of this happening elsewhere in Falta cannot be ruled out due to a lack of video footage.

On Saturday, protests erupted in Falta's Hasimnagar, where a section of villagers alleged they were being threatened by associates of Trinamool's Falta candidate Jahangir Khan. DIG Ajaypal Sharma, police observer for Diamond Harbour, rushed to the scene to pacify the villagers, who claimed police inaction despite complaints. A large number of police and central force personnel were deployed in the area.

Following the incident, EC ordered the arrest of two of Khan's aides, Izrafil Chokdar and Sujauddin Sheikh.
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