Repolling in West Bengal's Cooch Behar on April 29

On April 11, delegations of Left parties, Congress and BJP complaint of violence during voting in Bengal's Cooch Behar.

File photo

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Wednesday ordered repolling in the Cooch Behar constituency of West Bengal on April 29 following allegations that the voters were stopped from casting their votes at the booth. 

The repoll will take place on booth number 181 of Cooch Behar.

Cooch Behar went to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha election on April 11. 

On April 11, delegations of Left parties, Congress and BJP approached the Election Commission with complaints of violence and demanding repolling in Cooch Behar during voting.

A Left Front delegation led by Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat member Rabin Deb called on Chief Electoral Officer, Aariz Aftab, after Cooch Behar`s All India Forward Bloc candidate Gobinda Rai was attacked in Mathabhanga`s booth number 238, and his car vandalised. The LF leaders demanded punishment for the culprits.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Pradip Bhattacharya complained that in nearly 10 polling booths of Cooch Behar`s Dinhata, their polling agents were not allowed to enter.

A BJP delegation led by its state Vice President Jay Prakash Majumdar sought repolling in a large number of polling stations. He also urged the people to "cast their vote themselves and make their own choice" as the BJP believes in fair polls, unlike the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Out of 2,010 polling stations in Cooch Behar, around 700 'critical' booths were guarded by central forces. The remaining 1,310 polling stations were manned by state armed police.