The Election Commission on Thursday ordered repolling in five booths to be held on May 15 since polls could not be held here on accounts of malfunctioning of EVMs. Repolling will take place in four booths in South 24 Parganas,which include booth number 108 in Metiabruz,booth number 116 in Kulpi,booth numbers 113A and 114 in Mandirbazar. Repolling will also be held in booth number 12 in Kalyani in Bongaon constituency. Meanwhile,repolling in Mathurapur was largely peaceful barring some stray incidents. In one such incident,police had to be deployed in the Sariknagar booth under the Kesharpur gram panchayat after allegations that the Trinamool Congress was trying to capture the booth. In another incident in Mandirbazar Assembly constituency,the presiding officer of booth number 75 did not allow several voters to cast their votes since their EPIC numbers did not tally with those on the electoral rolls. However,state Chief Electoral Officer Debashish Sen said the percentage of repolling has come down in the third phase compared to the first two phases in the state,which saw a voter turnout of 81 per cent and 83 per cent respectively. The third phase saw a voter turnout of 76 per cent. While 77 per cent voters cast their votes in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls,81 per cent cast their votes this year. The counting procedure will be conducted under the supervision of the state police force. We have 52 counting centres in the state. We will have a three-tier security at the counting centres. In the outer tier,the identity of the persons entering the centre will be checked for an authorization from the EC. In the second tier,there will be a door-frame metal detector. In the third tier,the identity proofs will be checked again, Sen said. The CEO said no person having a security cover will be allowed inside the counting centre as the counting agent. Moreover,he said that an MP,MLA or Mayor cannot be appointed counting agents by parties.
