Election Commission orders re-polling at 15 polling stations in two seats in Bengal

The re-poll is scheduled to be held on Saturday (May 2) from 7 am to 6 pm, the notification said. After examining the reports of election officials and election observers, the notification declared the April 29 polls held at these polling stations invalid.Allegations of irregularities in the second phase led to calls for re-polling at 77 polling stations across four assembly constituencies. There was no re-polling at any polling station in the first phase of voting.According to sources, Special Observer Subrata Gupta, who visited Diamond Port on Thursday to oversee the review and verification process, recommended re-polling at 11 polling stations in Magrahat West, four polling stations in Diamond Port and 30 polling stations in Falta.“During the review, a number of disturbing findings were made, including allegations that CCTV cameras at several polling stations were switched off, resulting in the control room being unable to conduct live monitoring due to network outage,” the source said.There were also complaints that the EVMs at some stalls had been tampered with, with tape covering party symbols (except for one of the parties). “Although the presiding officer reportedly removed the tape around 1 pm, nearly 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded by then,” sources said.There are 285 polling stations in the Falta constituency, with some reporting 100% turnout.