Voting continues on Falata in West Bengal, double the number of soldiers deployed at 285 booths, Jahangir Khan withdrew from TMC, but name will remain in EVM.

South 24 Parganas: Voting is being held once again in Falta assembly seat of West Bengal. Till 9 am, about 20.47 percent voting was recorded. This time the Election Commission has made strict security arrangements and twice as many soldiers have been deployed at every booth as before. Instead of four, eight soldiers have been deployed at each polling booth. Voting will take place at a total of 285 polling stations till 6 pm.

Read:- Political equations changed in West Bengal as soon as the government changed…Know what is the real reason for withdrawing the name of Jahangir Khan?

During the last voting held on April 29, complaints were received from many booths that tape was pasted on the button with BJP’s election symbol in the EVM. Apart from this, there were also allegations of attempts to tamper with the footage of web cameras at some places. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the then Observer Subrata Gupta visited the area and conducted an investigation, in which signs of irregularities were found in about 60 booths. After this the Election Commission decided to hold re-polling.

BJP could never win in failure

Falta seat was considered a stronghold of CPI(M) for a long time, but in the last three elections, Trinamool Congress has dominated here. Since 2011, TMC has been continuously winning this seat. BJP strengthened its hold on many seats in the district, but the Falta seat has not yet gone to its account. Falta is a South 24 Parganas district assembly seat. There are 31 seats in South 24 Parganas district, out of which this time BJP has won 9 seats, TMC maintained its dominance in 21 seats. Whereas, Naushad Siddiqui of AISF has won the election from Bhangar seat. BJP won for the first time in urban areas like Jadavpur, Tollygunge and Behala, but Falta seat still remains a challenge for it.

Candidates withdrew, but names will remain in EVM

Read: Before Falta re-polling, TMC candidate Jahangir Khan withdrew his nomination, had said in the election that ‘Pushpa will not bow down…’

This time a total of six candidates are in the fray for this seat. The main contest is believed to be between BJP and TMC. However, two days before voting, TMC candidate Jahangir Khan had refused to contest the elections. Despite this, according to the rules of the Election Commission, now his name and party’s election symbol cannot be removed from the EVM. The deadline for withdrawal of nominations has passed, so officially he will still be considered a TMC candidate.

If media reports are to be believed, if Jahangir Khan has verbally applied to the Election Commission and the Commission has not formally accepted it, then he can claim victory if he gets more votes. Whereas if written application has been given to the Commission, then only the Commission will take the final decision regarding the votes cast on the TMC symbol.