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Bengal polls: EC orders repolling in Falta seat on May 21, cites 'severe electoral offences'

Scroll | May 3, 2026 11:39 AM CST

The Election Commission on Saturday ordered repolling in the Falta constituency of West Bengal in the Assembly elections citing “severe electoral offences”.

Polling will be held in all 285 polling stations on May 21 and the votes will be counted on May 24.

The decision came ahead of the votes in the rest of the state being counted on Monday.

There were allegations of electoral malpractices in the constituency located in the South 24 Parganas district.

On Saturday, the Election Commission said that during the polling on Wednesday, it had received complaints from political parties and candidates, and there were reports “alleging application of black adhesive tape/perfume on ballot unit buttons of EVMs [Electronic Voting Machines] in favour of or against particular political parties”.

It also said that there had been allegations of voters being intimidated or obstructed, and physical and unauthorised presence of workers of political parties inside polling stations.

The poll panel said that there had also been several instances of persons accompanying voters casting votes on the elector's behalf and that no video footage from some polling booths was available.

The polling in the state was held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. Voting in Falta was held on Wednesday. A party or an alliance needs 148 seats to secure...