The counting has begun for the West Bengal assembly polls, held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. This comes following a heated campaigning battle between the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While the TMC is aiming for a historic fourth term in the state, the BJP is looking to create history by winning in Bengal for the first time. Apart from the main rivals, the BJP and TMC, other political parties are also in the fray in the West Bengal assembly polls, including the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Polling in Bengal saw several incidents of violence, particularly between workers of rival parties, as well as reports of tampering with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). This led to repolling at 15 booths in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, in Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim, on May 2, just two days before counting.
The Election Commission of India on Saturday ordered repolling across all 285 polling stations in West Bengal’s Falta assembly constituency following severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during polling in the second and final phase on April 29.
The votes of the repolling in Falta will be counted on May 24. Voter turnout of 87.6 per cent was recorded in Magrahat Paschim and 86.11 per cent in Diamond Harbour till 5 pm after repolling, leading to a combined voter turnout of 86.9 per cent.
Polling in West Bengal during both the phases saw record voter turnout of over 90 per cent. During phase 1, Bengal recorded a whopping 93.19 per cent turnout and during phase 2, the voter turnout was 91.66 per cent.
The Election Commission received several complaints of EVM tampering during the second phase of polling in West Bengal. The poll body received at least 77 complaints of EVM tampering during the second phase of voting.
Among the key candidates in the West Bengal assembly polls is chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is contesting from Bhabanipur and will face BJP's Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, in a high-stakes battle.
Here are the results for the constituencies of Darjeeling, Tufanganj, Siliguri, and Kurseong:
Darjeeling: MADHAP RAI (INC) won with 621 votes, while the BJP candidate trailed.
Tufanganj: MALATI RAVA ROY (BJP) won with 33692 votes, while the TMC candidate trailed.
Siliguri: SHANKAR GHOSH (BJP) won with 33722 votes, while the TMC candidate trailed.
Kurseong: SONAM LAMA (BJP) won with 5244 votes, while the TMC candidate trailed.
