Kolkata, 20 May (H.S.) : The Election Commission has nearly doubled security arrangements for the repoll scheduled on May 21 in West Bengal’s Falta Assembly constituency, where polling was earlier countermanded following allegations of large-scale tampering with electronic voting machines last month.

A senior official of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal said on Wednesday that eight personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces, equivalent to a full section, would be deployed at each polling station during the repoll. During the original polling held on April 29, only four personnel, or half a section, had been stationed at each booth.

An Election Commission official said the Commission did not want to leave any scope for irregularities this time and had therefore significantly strengthened the security arrangements.

There are a total of 285 polling stations in the Falta Assembly constituency. Around 35 companies of central forces will be deployed to ensure peaceful voting. Officials said the deployment of security personnel for the repoll would be nearly double compared to the first phase of polling.

In addition, 30 quick response teams will remain on standby to deal with any untoward incident. A senior election official said the Commission aimed to ensure immediate intervention even in the event of minor disturbances.

The Election Commission has also tightened surveillance measures. Two web cameras will be installed inside each polling station and one outside. Live webcasting of the polling process and surrounding areas will be carried out, with monitoring from the offices of the District Election Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer. Drone surveillance is also being considered for the repoll day.

The official added that three election observers had been appointed to oversee the repoll process.

Meanwhile, the state police have also initiated action ahead of the repoll. A senior West Bengal Police officer said several persons had been arrested, including Falta Panchayat Samiti vice-chairman Saidul Khan.

On Tuesday, Jahangir Khan announced that he would not participate in the repoll scheduled for Thursday. The Trinamool Congress described his decision as a personal one. On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Debangshu Panda as its candidate.

Tension had prevailed in the constituency after complaints emerged from several booths during the April 29 polling regarding the use of perfume and adhesive tape on EVMs.

Then special observer Subrata Gupta had personally visited the area to conduct an inquiry, following which evidence of tampering was reportedly found in at least 60 booths.

The investigation reportedly uncovered not only tampering with EVMs, but also attempts to manipulate recordings from web cameras installed at several polling stations. Questions were subsequently raised over the role of booth-level officers, presiding officers, polling personnel, and even election observers.

Following these findings, the Election Commission ordered repolling at all booths across the entire Falta Assembly constituency.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh