The Election Commission has ordered re polling at one polling station each in the Barasat and Mathurapur Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal on Monday, a day before the counting of votes.
According to the order, repolling will be conducted at 61 Kadambagachi Saradar Pada FP School, Room No 2 of 120-Deganga Assembly Constituency in 17 Barasat Parliamentary Constituency and 26 Aaddir Mahal Sri Chaitanya Bidyapith FP School of 131-Kakdwip Assembly Constituency in 20-Mathurapur (SC) Parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal.
“I am directed to state that on the basis of reports received from the concerned RO/the concerned DEO/the Observers of 17-Barasat PC and 20-Mathurapur (SC) PC. regarding poll taken for General Election to Lok Sabha for West Bengal State, 2024, held on 1 June, 2024 and after taking all material circumstances into account, the Commission, hereby declares under sub-section (2) of Section 58 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, that the poll taken on 1 June, 2024 for aforesaid election at the following polling stations (as mentioned in Column 3 of the table below) to be void and appoints 3 June, 2024 as the date and fixes the hours as mentioned in Column (4) of the table below, for taking a fresh poll at the said polling stations in accordance with Commission’s instructions contained in paragraphs 13.62 of Chapter XIII of Hand Book for Returning Officer, 2023,” the Election Commission said in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal.
Clashes broke out between supporters of Trinamool Congress (TMC), Indian Secular Front (ISF) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in various areas of the State in the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha polls on June 1.
An alleged clash broke out between Trinamool Congress and BJP workers at Bayarbari in West Bengal’s Basirhat amid the seventh and final phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday. A clash also broke out between TMC and BJP workers at Meraganj in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, leaving several people injured.
Meanwhile, as West Bengal police went to arrest an alleged accused in Saturday’s violence in Basirhat’s Sandeshkhali, the local women resisted and a scuffle broke out on Sunday. The police had come to arrest BJP worker Sadhan Nandi.
The voting for the marathon seven-phase polling process for the Lok Sabha elections, which began on April 19, came to an end on Saturday, June 1. The exit polls have predicted that the ruling BJP-led NDA is poised to improve its performance over its 2019 record when it won 352 seats. Two polls predicted the BJP also improving its numbers from the 303 seats it won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
If the exit poll predictions come true about BJP returning to power on June 4 when votes are counted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become the only PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to win three successive terms in Lok Sabha polls.