Why re-voting on 21 May at 285 booths of Falta Assembly? Result will come on this day, know what is the update regarding 4th May

Amidst the West Bengal Assembly elections, the Election Commission has taken a big and extraordinary decision. In Falta assembly seat of South 24 Parganas district, the Election Commission has ordered re-voting at all 285 polling stations. The Commission has cited ‘weakening of the democratic process and serious electoral irregularities’ as the reason behind this decision.

This decision has come at a time when allegations of violence, booth capturing and EVM tampering had heated up the election atmosphere during the second phase of voting in the state. According to the Commission, the situation was so serious that re-polling in the entire region became necessary to ensure fair elections.

Where will re-voting take place in Falta?

Re-polling will be conducted on May 21 from 7 am to 6 pm at all 285 polling stations of Falta Assembly constituency, including auxiliary booths. This seat comes in Diamond Harbor subdivision of South 24 Parganas district.

When will the counting of votes take place and what will be its impact?

The counting of votes for Falta seat will be done on May 24, which will be much later than the counting of votes for the rest of the seats in the state (May 4). This means that the result of this seat will be declared separately, while the results of other 293 seats will already be declared.

Why was such a big decision taken?

According to the Election Commission, there was large-scale violence, intimidation and violation of election rules during the voting held on April 29. The Commission clearly said in its order that ‘In view of the serious electoral crimes and disruption of the democratic process that took place at a large number of polling stations in the 144-Falta Assembly constituency of West Bengal on 29 April 2026, the Election Commission directs that re-polling be conducted at all 285 polling stations, including auxiliary polling stations.’ The Commission believes that these incidents affected the democratic process, hence re-polling is necessary for a completely fair election.

Has such a decision been taken before also?

A day before this, the Commission had ordered re-voting in 15 booths of Diamond Harbor and Magrahat West seats. However, in reality this decision is even bigger because re-polling is being conducted in the entire assembly constituency.

Why did the conflict increase between TMC and BJP?

There was a lot of violence between TMC and BJP supporters during voting. BJP alleged that EVMs were tampered with and their buttons were sealed with tape. Whereas TMC rejected these allegations outright and said that BJP is making false allegations due to fear of defeat.

What did Abhishek Banerjee say?

TMC general secretary and Diamond Harbor MP Abhishek Banerjee reacted sharply to this decision. He said that it would take even ten lives for your ‘anti-Bengal Gujarati gang’ and their puppet Gyanesh Kumar to cause even the slightest damage to my ‘Diamond Harbor Model’. Bring whatever you have. I challenge the entire Indian Union – come to Falta.

What happened in Falta?

During the voting held on April 29, there were allegations of violence, threats and stopping voters from voting at many places. The police even had to resort to lathi charge and three people were also arrested. Local people also took to the streets to protest and alleged that they were being threatened. Considering the situation, the Election Commission has deployed 165 additional counting observers and 77 police observers in the state, so that the counting of votes can be done in a completely safe and transparent manner.