In Extraordinary Move, EC Orders Fresh Poll In Falta
EC sees poll offences in ‘Singham vs. Pushpa’ constituency
New Delhi, Kolkata: In a rare move, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday ordered a “fresh” election or a repoll in all the 285 polling stations of the Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal on May 21 due to “subversion of democratic process”.
A spokesperson for the poll panel said the counting of votes for the constituency will take place on May 24.
It is rare for the poll authority to order a re-election in an entire Assembly seat.
A fresh poll is a repoll, an official explained.
“On consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on April 29 in Falta Assembly Constituency, EC directs that fresh poll shall be conducted in all the 285 polling stations, including auxiliary polling stations,” the spokesperson said.
On Friday, the EC ordered a re-election in 15 polling stations of two Assembly seats in West Bengal — Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim.
Reacting to the repoll at Falta, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh called the EC decision "politically-motivated". "It is a politically motivated decision of CEC Gyanesh Kumar to reschedule the Falta repoll after the conduct of the entire Assembly Election in the state. Why did he wake up suddenly three days after polls were held there? What was the role of Singham (Ajaypal Sharma) who has been made police observer there? Why couldn't he stop rigging, if it happened there, despite having the deployment of such a huge size of central forces and armoured vehicle? He should be held accountable for this. We are sure our candidate will win at Falta irrespective of political vendetta of the EC. By then we would have formed our government," he claimed.
