Voting began on Thursday morning for the re-election to the Falta Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district amid heightened security arrangements.
The polling, which commenced at 7 am, is being held after the Election Commission ordered a re-poll citing “severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process” during voting on April 29 in the second phase of the Assembly elections.
More than 2.36 lakh electors, including 1.15 lakh women and nine third-gender voters, are eligible to cast their ballots across 285 polling booths, officials said.
A total of six candidates are in the fray, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominee Jahangir Khan, who announced his withdrawal from the contest on Tuesday. However, his name remains on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) as he could not formally withdraw his candidature.
Other candidates include the BJP’s Debangshu Panda, CPI(M)’s Sambhu Nath Kurmi and the Congress’ Abdur Razzak Molla.
Officials said 35 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) have been deployed for the re-poll, with eight personnel, equivalent to one full section, stationed at each booth. During the April 29 polling, only four personnel, or half a section, had been deployed per booth.
Additionally, 30 Quick Response Teams (QRTs) have been kept on standby to address any untoward incident.
Political tensions have remained high in the constituency following allegations from multiple booths that perfume substances and adhesive tapes had been applied to EVMs during the earlier round of polling.
Former Special Observer of the Election Commission Subrata Gupta had visited the constituency and conducted a scrutiny, following which evidence of alleged tampering was detected in at least 60 booths.
Authorities also found attempts to tamper with footage recorded by web cameras installed at several polling stations, raising questions over the role of booth-level officers, presiding officers, polling personnel and election observers.
The TMC has retained the Falta seat since 2001, except in the 2006 Assembly election, when the CPI(M) won the constituency.
(With inputs from PTI)