The Election Fee of India (ECI) has ordered repolling on Could 2 in 15 polling stations throughout two Meeting constituencies in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, following experiences of Digital Voting Machine (EVM) tampering throughout the second section of polling held on Thursday.
“Repolls have been ordered in 11 polling stations within the Magrahat Paschim Meeting seat and 4 polling stations within the Diamond Harbour Meeting constituency. We’re nonetheless awaiting experiences concerning the complaints from the Falta Meeting seat,” mentioned a senior official of the ballot panel in Kolkata.
Repolling can be held on Could 2 from 7 am to six pm.
The ECI had obtained at the very least 77 complaints associated to EVM tampering throughout the second section of elections in West Bengal.
“Whereas 32 got here from Falta, 13 had been obtained from Magrahat, 29 had been obtained from Diamond Harbour, and three had been obtained from Budge Budge,” an official mentioned.
In all, 142 Meeting seats unfold throughout eight districts went to polls within the second section on Wednesday. Elections had been held in 152 seats within the first section on April 23. No orders for repolling had been issued within the first section.
EC officers mentioned that in some circumstances, the buttons of a political get together on EVMs had been discovered to be coated with adhesive tape or blackened with ink, stopping voters from casting their votes. In others, attar was utilized to the buttons in order that anybody urgent them could possibly be recognized by rival events.
The Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) has demanded a repoll, alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was behind the tampering.
“In a number of polling cubicles, the choice to vote for the BJP has been blocked utilizing a tape, successfully stopping voters from exercising their alternative. That is the so-called ‘Diamond Harbour Mannequin,’ the identical template that helped Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee safe his Lok Sabha seat. We demand a right away repoll in all affected cubicles in Falta the place such incidents have occurred. Sales space 189 can also be compromised in an identical method together with a number of others,” Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, wrote on X on April 29.
In his put up, Malviya uploaded three movies through which the EVM of Half 170 (Harindanga Excessive College) was purportedly seen to have been compromised. HT couldn’t independently confirm the authenticity of the movies.
TMC chief Kunal Ghosh hit again, saying, “The BJP is aware of very properly that it’ll lose the elections in these constituencies. Therefore, they’re demanding repolls. They’re simply harassing the individuals. Voters would once more have to face within the queue and forged their vote. BJP would lose anyway.”
