Re-poll ordered on October 8, counting will be on October 9
7 Oct 2015 1:10 AM GMT
East-Indian West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday said re-poll will be held in some booths of Bidhannagar and Asansol Corporations and Bally in <g data-gr-id="27">Howrah,</g> while counting for elections to all three municipal bodies will be done on October 9.
“Re-poll in some booths of Bidhannagar, <g data-gr-id="29">Asansol</g> and Bally in Howrah municipal corporation will be held on October 8,” State Election Commissioner S R Upadhyay said.
He, however, said the Commission was yet to decide which booths would go for re-polling.
“Counting for all the three bodies will be held on October 9,” Upadhyay said.
The Commission had on Sunday postponed counting of votes in the elections to Bidhannagar and Asansol municipal corporations and Bally following allegations of large-scale violence.
Monday’s decision by the Commission came after a two-day long political tug-of-war with the Opposition who were demanding fresh elections alleging violence in the polls held on October three and the ruling Trinamool Congress seeking counting on the scheduled date of October seven.
The Opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front, <g data-gr-id="31">BJP</g> and Congress demanded fresh elections to all these municipal bodies alleging violence and loot of votes by TMC. A BJP delegation led by its state president Rahul Sinha had sat on a dharna on Saturday evening in front of the Commissioner's office demanding re-poll.
Following the commission’s decision to postpone counting, the TMC resorted to a dharna at the same venue since this morning. It was led by party heavyweights like TMC general secretary and MP Subrata Bakshi, Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, party secretary-general and -Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and Mayor Sobhan Chatterjee.
BJP will boycott re-poll, counting of civic polls in Bengal
Demanding <g data-gr-id="57">cancellation</g> of the recently held civic polls in West Bengal, BJP on Tuesday said it will boycott the proposed re-poll and counting.
“We are not accepting the state election commission’s decision. We want that the entire election should be <g data-gr-id="61">cancelled</g> because voting didn’t happen properly,” state BJP president Rahul Sinha told reporters here.
He said the party will boycott this election process and also appealed to other Opposition parties to join the boycott call.
“We will boycott voting during any re-poll because Trinamool Congress did not allow anyone else to vote. I heard even the family members of TMC leaders could not cast their votes. We will not participate even in counting,” Sinha said.
The BJP leader said the party will move Calcutta High Court with a plea to declare the election process as invalid and order fresh polls.
On the state election commission’s decision to order <g data-gr-id="55">repoll</g> on October 8 and counting the day after, Sinha alleged that it was done under severe pressure from TMC leadership.
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