WB Panchayat Election 2023: Repoll in Over 690 Booths Today After SEC Orders Amid Violence & Protests – News18

As violence and massive protests continue to take place across West Bengal over the conduct of Panchayat Polls 2023, the State Election Commission (SEC) on Sunday announced that repolling will be held in 697 booths on July 10.

The re-election will take place in booths where prior polling was declared void, spread across 19 districts, from 7 am to 5 pm.

The districts where repolling will be held include Murshidabad, which will have the highest number of booths at 175, followed by Malda with 10.

Violence-hit Nadia will witness re-voting in 89 booths, followed by Cooch Behar (53), North 24 Parganas (46), Uttar Dinajpur (42), South 24 Parganas (36), Purba Medinipur (31) and Hooghly (29), the official said. No repolling will be held in the Darjeeling, Jhargram and Kalimpong districts

The announcement came after the SEC held a meeting on Sunday evening after taking into consideration reports of vote-tampering and violence in many places. Massive protests have also been held across the state against the violence that rocked the panchayat elections and over allegations of irregularities.

As far as the deployment of Central Forces is concerned, four security personnel will be present in each of the booths, besides state police, PTI reported.

Also Read| Polling Over for Panchayat Polls, Central Forces Are Still to Coming to West Bengal

“After reviewing the reports received from the districts, we have decided to conduct repolling in over 690 booths in 19 districts. There will be four CAPF personnel in every booth for tomorrow’s polling,” the official told PTI.

This comes after over 400 companies of Central Forces failed to reach West Bengal on the polling day.

As per the sources, one company of the Central Force will reach Barrackpur while 10 companies are expected to arrive in Alipurduar. However, forces will arrive in almost all districts of Bengal on Monday.

Speaking to News18, BSF DIG SS Guleria listed the reasons behind the delay of Central Forces’ arrival. “Short notice of mobilising 485 companies from far-flung was the biggest challenge, however, 649 companies had arrived by the polling day,” Guleria said.

So far, more than 12 people died in post-poll violence in Bengal amid an ongoing blame game between the Centre and the TMC-led state government

Meanwhile, Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday reached 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.