Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 3 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dilip Ghosh on Sunday welcomed Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to repoll all 285 polling stations in Falta assembly seat, stressing that the polling body has respected the democratic rights of people.
Speaking to reporters, Ghosh stated that the people were prevented from voting in Falta, adding that the repolling in the constituency should happen.
‘People in Falta haven’t been able to vote for many years, so the Election Commission had already imposed strict measures there… Yesterday, people protested that they were being prevented from voting… Repolling will take place across the entire assembly constituency, and it should happen. This is a question of people’s democratic rights, and the Election Commission has respected that,’ Ghosh said.
The Election Commission of India has ordered that fresh voting will be held across all 285 polling stations in Falta assembly constituency of West Bengal on May 21 even as repolling was held in 15 booths in Paschim Magrahat and Diamond Harbour assembly constituencies on Saturday.
According to the ECI, directives for fresh repolling have been given in Falta ‘on consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on April 29’.
Earlier on Saturday, the BJP delegation met with West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh visited the Netaji Indoor Stadium, which has strong rooms with EVMs.
BJP candidate from Maniktala Assembly Constituency, Tapas Roy, who was part of BJP’s delegation to CEO, said the Election Commission’s rules and regulations regarding the seating arrangements for national and state party representatives in the counting hall must be strictly followed.
‘We came with three issues. In Bardhaman, where people were climbing the building from the outside up to the fifth floor, what were the CAPF and the district police doing? Second, in Pingla and Daspur, casual workers are being deployed for duties they shouldn’t be assigned to. This must stop. Third, the Election Commission’s rules and regulations regarding the seating arrangements for national and state party representatives in the counting hall must be strictly followed. The Returning Officer (RO), Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), observers, and counting officers must ensure this,’ he said.
‘Because of incidents like what happened in Falta, Abhishek (Banerjee) won by a margin of 7 lakh 11 thousand votes in Diamond Harbour. Even today in Falta, things happen that shouldn’t have. People were prevented from voting; in Hindu villages, our mothers and sisters had to come out and protest,’ he added.
Polling across 294 constituencies in West Bengal was held on April 23 and 29, respectively, with counting set to take place on May 4. (ANI)
