Kolkata: In a major embarrassment for the BJP and Left Front, the State Election Commission (SEC) on Monday, stating that the election process was not hampered has ruled out any possibility of re-poll in any of the booths of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections as demanded by the Opposition parties.
"We have examined the reports from observers and the concerned police administration where it has been found that the voting process has not been hampered or hindered in a single place. So we have decided that there is no need of any repoll. The counting will be held as per schedule on Tuesday," an official in the state SEC said.
BJP had demanded re-poll in all the 144 seats while the Left Front had the same demand in three to four seats. They submitted memorandum in this regard to the State Election Commission alleging that agents were not allowed in a number of booths and thereby free and fair elections could not be conducted.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had congratulated the police administration for peaceful elections on Sunday and had said that the people of Bengal celebrated the festival of democracy with pride.
Trinamool Congress secretary-general Partha Chatterjee alleged that the BJP had brought outsider to create disturbance during the elections but the promptness of the police foiled their bid of creating trouble. "Video footage in a private television channel showed that an EVM was lying ransacked on the floor. How will the counting of votes in that particular booth be held?" questioned BJP leader Joyprakash Majumder.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation election passed off peacefully, as 63.63 per cent of the over 40 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm on Sunday, when voting ended.
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress national general-secretary, said if the BJP could not field polling agents in different booths it was their problem. He reiterated that any person irrespective of political colour, who would be found creating trouble, would be put behind the bars.
The Kolkata Police used drones to conduct aerial surveys to find out if any unauthorised gathering was taking place. There were 4959 polling stations housed in 1676 premises. Of the total number of voters, 21,17,840 are male and 19,30,444 are female.
There was CCTV surveillance in all the polling stations. As many as 950 people are contesting in the election. There were 1139 sensitive booths and a total of 23,500 policemen were deployed to maintain peace.