Repolling in Bengal on Monday in booths where voting declared void; Guv flies to Delhi

The SEC, which held a meeting on Sunday evening, went through reports of vote-tampering and violence which affected polling in many places and passed the order.

Kolkata: The West Bengal State Election Commission Sunday announced that repolling will be held on Monday in all booths where voting for the rural elections has been declared void.

The SEC, which held a meeting on Sunday evening, went through reports of vote-tampering and violence which affected polling in many places, and passed the order, an official said. Among districts where repolling was announced, Murshidabad has the highest number of booths at 175, followed by Malda with 112. Violence-hit Nadia will see repolling in 89 booths, while North and South 24 Parganas districts will witness repolling in 46 and 36 booths respectively.

As reported by ETV Bharat, at least 18 people were killed in violence during polling in the state on Saturday. Among flashpoints were Murshidabad, Nadia and Cooch Behar districts besides pockets in South 24 Parganas such as Bhangar and in Purba Medinipur's Nandigram.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday flew to New Delhi, where he is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submit a report on the violence that took place during the panchayat elections in the state, an official said. "The governor is visiting Delhi. He is supposed to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submit a report on the panchayat polls held in West Bengal on Saturday," the official said.

Bose is likely to meet Shah on Monday morning, he said, adding that the governor has prepared a report on his views after visiting violence-hit areas in the backdrop of the rural polls. On the polling day, the state governor had visited various places, mostly in North 24 Parganas district, and taken stock of the situation.

Incidentally, the governor had visited places in the state where people were killed during incidents of clashes between political parties in the run-up to the polls. Bose had visited Bhangar and Canning in South 24 Parganas district before meeting family members of a victim in Dinhata in Cooch Behar. He had also met the relatives of another deceased person in Basanti. (Agency inputs)