The Trinamool Congress protesting outside the state election commission in Kolkata on Monday.
The state election commission of West Bengal today ordered re-polling at some booths of Asansol, Bally and Kolkata's Salt Lake in the state's civic polls which have been marred by reports of rigging. The voting will be held on October 8 and counting will take place the next day.
The state election commissioner, Sushanta Ranjan Upadhyay, had put off counting indefinitely after getting numerous complaints of booth capturing and rigging by Trinamool supporters in Saturday's polls.
On Monday, TMC leaders Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee and Subrata Bakshi met the election commission shortly after noon, demanding the counting of the polls to go as scheduled and were inside the office for almost four hours. The TMC had gone on dharna outside outside the office around 10 am.
Till about 6.30 pm today, state election commissioner Sushanta Ranjan Upadhyay had said he could not give a date for re-polls today as webcam footage from poll booths and media footage had to be examined. Two hours later, he called a press conference to announce the fresh dates.
The Opposition, which had been demanding fresh polls, at least in all polling stations of Salt Lake, is crying foul.
"On Sunday, the commissioner said the footage and presiding officers' reports needed to be examined. But the kind of pressure the Trinamool applied, he has changed his mind, obviously in a hurry, as he has not been able to say where re-polls will be held. This is unprecedented," said CPM's Rabin Deb.
Senior BJP leaders are meeting the Election Commission in Delhi tomorrow. The Trinamool Congress had accused the state election commission, the BJP and the Governor of conspiracy to create disturbance in the state.
"TMC once again gave good-bye to all democratic norms and accepted the principle of bullet over ballot to rig the elections," said BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh.