The Election Commission on Friday ordered repolling on May 2 in 15 polling stations in West Bengal, where voting was held on April 29 in the second phase of the assembly elections.
In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bengal, the Election Commission (EC) said the repolling has been ordered based on inputs received from the state poll machinery and voting will be held from 7 am to 6 pm.
While 11 polling stations are in the Magarhat Paschim assembly constituency, four are in Diamond Harbour.
The repoll order was based on reports received from returning officers and observers of the two constituencies and "material circumstances".
The BJP had alleged rampant electoral malpractices in certain polling stations of both the Assembly seats under the Dimanod Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The EC had deputed its special observer, Subrata Gupta, to fact-check the allegations from the ground.
"BJP knows it will be defeated by a big margin in Diamond Harbour and Margahat, and that is why they are demanding a repoll in these places. With the EC's assistance, the BJP is forcing people of these areas to go through the rigours of the voting process yet again. The mandate is against the BJP, and it will remain the same," TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
On the other hand, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said, "There had been malpractices in several booths in these areas to favour the TMC. We are happy with the repoll decision of the EC."
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This is the first time that repolling has been ordered in the present set of assembly polls in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
No repolling was recommended in the first phase of the West Bengal polls held on April 23.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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