Controversy over applying tape and perfume to EVMs: Voting is underway again today in this West Bengal constituency, with drones monitoring the situation. Re-voting taking place today in Phalta, Bengal: After EVM tampering, 285 booths were tightly guarded, forces deployed everywhere. – ..

A big and important political news is coming out from South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Re-polling is being conducted in Falta Assembly Constituency today i.e. Thursday (21 May 2026). Earlier, during the second phase of elections on April 29, there were allegations of large-scale rigging and serious tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in this area. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the Election Commission (ECI) had completely canceled the previous voting held there to maintain the integrity of democracy and had issued an order to conduct fresh voting at all the 285 polling stations in the area.

Serious allegations of applying tape and perfume on EVM

During the last voting in Falta area, opposition parties and local citizens had filed complaints of large-scale electoral irregularities. According to the allegations, adhesive tapes were placed on the buttons of EVM machines inside many booths, so that voters could not vote on the symbol of their choice. Apart from this, cases of applying special perfumes on the machines and intimidating voters were also reported. After the report of the Poll Observer and massive protests by the local people, the Election Commission considered it a violation of the democratic process and took a historic decision to conduct fair elections again in the entire assembly constituency.

TMC candidate withdrew name two days before voting

Just two days before this re-polling, a very shocking and big turn took place in the political arena of Falta. Trinamool Congress (TMC) official candidate Jahangir Khan suddenly called a press conference on Tuesday and announced his withdrawal from the elections. He cited the special economic package announced by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for the development of Falta area and maintaining peace in the area as the reason for withdrawing his candidature. This unexpected step of the ruling party candidate in the last hours of the election campaign has changed the entire electoral equation of Phalta seat.

Revenge of the impregnable fort: Very tight security arrangements

The Election Commission and the local administration have made unprecedented security arrangements to prevent any kind of violence, booth capturing or repeated disturbances during the voting taking place today. The entire Falta assembly constituency has been transformed into a kind of impenetrable security fort:

• Heavy deployment of central forces: More than 35 companies of central security forces have been deployed in sensitive and hyper-sensitive areas to ensure peaceful and fair voting in the area.

• Quick Response Teams Alert: 30 ‘Quick Response Teams’ (QRT) have been kept on alert mode at all times to take immediate action if any dispute or emergency situation arises at any polling station.

• Direct monitoring from webcam and CCTV: To strengthen the security and transparency at a critical level, two webcams have been installed inside each polling booth, whose live feed is being directly sent to the control room. Along with this, CCTV cameras have been installed outside the booth to monitor the security arrangements.

• Drone cameras view from the sky: Along with the field security forces, the entire Falta assembly area is also being closely monitored from the sky, for which the administration is using modern drone cameras on a large scale.

The administration clearly says that no anti-social element will be allowed to influence the election process. The results of this tight security re-polling being held today will be declared on May 24.