Bengal: Around 43 pc polling in Falta repoll till 11 am; voting peaceful

A repoll in West Bengal's Falta Assembly constituency saw a 43% voter turnout by 11 am, with no reported incidents and smooth voting at 285 polling booths.

The repoll to the Falta Assembly constituency in West Bengal on Thursday saw a voter turnout of nearly 43 per cent till 11 am, with no untoward incident reported from anywhere, a poll panel official said.

A total of 2.36 lakh electors -- 1,21,300 men, 1,15,135 women and nine third gender individuals -- are eligible to exercise their franchise in the repoll, which started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

The Election Commission doubled the security arrangements for the repoll after the April 29 polling in the seat was countermanded over allegations of large-scale EVM tampering.

Around 35 companies of the central forces are manning the 285 polling booths to ensure smooth voting. Additionally, 30 Quick Response Teams are on standby to respond swiftly to any disturbance.

''This time, the polling has been peaceful. There is no untoward incident from anywhere in Falta. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling booths. Till 11 am, a voter turnout of 42.83 per cent has been registered. This is a good show,'' the poll panel official told PTI.

A large number of voters were seen queuing outside the 285 polling stations in the Assembly constituency since early morning.

Although officially six candidates are in the fray for the seat, Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan, a couple of days ago, announced that he would not contest the poll, a decision the party described as his personal.

Political tensions remained high in the constituency since polling on April 29, when complaints surfaced from multiple booths alleging that perfume substances and adhesive tapes had been applied to EVMs, which ultimately led to the countermanding of the polls.