KOLKATA: A day after the Special Roll Observer (SRO) submitted his report following an on-the-spot visit to Diamond Harbour in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday ordered a repoll in 15 polling stations across two Assembly constituencies.
The repoll will be held on Saturday, May 2, from 7 am to 6 pm, covering 11 polling stations in Magrahat Paschim Assembly constituency and four in Diamond Harbour Assembly constituency.
The ECI said the decision was taken based on reports submitted by the concerned Returning Officers and Observers. The BJP too alleged that the party symbols on EVMs were covered with tapes or ink in certain booths during the second and final phase of West Bengal Assembly elections on Wednesday.
“Based on reports received from the concerned Returning Officers and Observers of 142-Magrahat Paschim Assembly Constituency and 143-Diamond Harbour Assembly Constituency regarding the poll held for the General Election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2026, on April 29, and after taking all material circumstances into account, the Commission hereby declares, under Section 58(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, that the poll taken at the specified polling stations is void and appoints May 2, 2026, as the date and fixes the hours for taking a fresh poll at the said polling stations,” an order issued by West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said on Friday evening.
The order added that wide publicity should be given in the polling areas, including by beating of drums, and that contesting candidates should be informed in writing about the fresh poll.
The decision follows a visit by an ECI team led by SRO Subrata Gupta, who reviewed demands for repolling in around 77 polling stations across four Assembly constituencies.
The ECI said it had received 32 complaints from Falta, 29 from Diamond Harbour, 13 from Magrahat, and three from Budge Budge.
Following this, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar directed Gupta to carry out on-ground inspections.
Demands for repolling are typically raised by political parties, candidates, polling agents, or observers, citing issues such as malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs), alleged booth capturing, intimidation, or breaches of voting secrecy.
