With no repolling recommendations, Bengal & Tamil Nadu break ‘past pattern’, says EC | India News
New Delhi: Not a single re-poll was recommended across 44,376 polling stations in West Bengal and 75,064 polling stations in Tamil Nadu, EC sources told TOI on Friday. This is a break from the pattern of multiple re-polls recommended in past elections, particularly in Bengal, due to political violence and alleged electoral irregularities. Both Bengal and Tamil Nadu saw the highest turnout on Thursday. Bengal polled around 92.9% in its first phase after nearly 83 lakh voters were deleted from the state’s electoral roll due to SIR.A three-pronged verification was carried out at all polling booths in Bengal on Thursday, to keep a strict check on electoral malpractices related to past elections in the state, commonly known as ‘chapa’, ‘source jamming’ and ‘booth jamming’.The first point of verification was the area around the polling station. Section 163 of the BNSS (which corresponds to Section 144 of the erstwhile IPC) was imposed on the 200-metre area of the polling station on Thursday. The identity card of every person entering the area is checked and only genuine voters, election officials etc. are allowed to enter.A second round of verification takes place at the time of entry into the polling station. Booth-level officials and volunteers from NSS and NCC were deployed to check each person before lining up to vote. This included verifying the identity of ‘Pardansheen’ women (women wearing face veils as a religious practice) by female staff. Next, as directed by the EC, voters check the identity card, voter card or voter slip of each person before entering the queue.The third verification was the general identity check performed by the polling officer inside the polling station, before the voter inks his finger and casts his vote.
