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Repoll in 302 booths in 3 states

New Delhi, May 11
The Election Commission today ordered repoll in 302 polling booths in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu where polling in yesterday’s Assembly elections was marred by violence, snatching of ballot papers and intimidation of voters.

The repoll will be held tomorrow in 90 polling booths in nine districts of West Bengal, six in six constituencies of Tamil Nadu and 137 booths in 19 constituencies of Assam. Repoll would be held in 69 polling stations in 13 constituencies of Assam on Sunday, EC sources said.

The voting would start at 7 a.m. And the counting would be taken up on May 13. There is to be no repoll in Kerala and Pondicherry, which also went to the polls yesterday.

The EC took this decision after receiving reports from the returning officers (ROS) of the constituencies in the four states and Pondicherry and its central observers posted there.

A UNI report from Guwahati said security was beefed up for tomorrow’s repoll in 137 booths in 19 Assembly constituencies.

The maximum number of repolling centres are in the Hailakandi constituency where 37 of the total 149 booths will have fresh voting followed by Katlicherra and Rangia with 29 and 21 booths respectively.

The incidents of rigging was high in the Barak valley where 131 booths of the 137 will have fresh voting. There were reports of rigging in all 15 constituencies of the area.

The Bodo-dominated areas also witnessed massive malpractices during yesterday’s voting and polling be held again in 31 booths of eight Assembly constituencies.

In West Bengal, the repoll is spread over the nine districts of Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Malda, Howrah, South 24-Parganas, Midnapore and Purulia.

In Tamil Nadu, the repoll is to be held in six booths in the Harbour, Aruppukottai, Vellore, Thiruverambur, Villupuram and Tuticorin Constituencies.

Meanwhile a report from Guwahati said security was beefed up as repolling to 137 booths in 19 Assembly constituencies in Assam will be held tomorrow.

The Election Commission ordered repolling in 137 booths following reports of rigging, ballot snatching and intimidation of voters in yesterday’s election.

The maximum number of repolling centres are in the Hailakandi constituency where 37 of the total 149 booths will have fresh voting followed by Katlicherra and Rangia 29 and 21 booths respectively.

The incidents of rigging was high in the Barak valley where 131 booths of the 137 will have fresh voting. There were reports of rigging in all 15 constiuencies of the area.

The Bodo-dominated areas also witnessed massive malpractice in polling where polling would be held again in 31 booths of eight Assembly constituencies.

Reports said Bodo militants owing allegiance to a political party did not allow normal voting in some of their pockets adjacent to the Indo-Bhutan border.

However, there would not be any repolling in the upper Assam of the Brahmaputra valley.

GUWAHATI: Altogether 11 persons, including eight security personnel, were killed during the past 24 hours in Assam.

Five securitymen—three BSF jawans, an ASI of Assam Police and a driver, were killed in a bomb attack by suspected ULFA militants in Sibsagar district last night.

In another incident, suspected United People’s Democratic Solidarity ultras ambushed a patrolling party in Karbi Anglong district, killing three of them on the spot.

Clashes between Bodos and Santhals claimed three lives. Two Bodos were hacked to death following which an attack killed one Santhal.

Additional Director-General of Police G.N. Srivastava told UNI that 15 out of the 26 districts in the state which witnessed rows of pre-poll violences remained peaceful.

Almost all ballot boxes had been brought to the strong rooms spread throughout the state while those from the interior places were on the way. UNI