Kolkata

Repolling in West Bengal’s Falta Assembly constituency on Thursday witnessed more than 74 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm, with polling remaining peaceful and no untoward incident reported, a poll panel official said.

The constituency has a total electorate of 2.36 lakh voters, including 1,21,300 men, 1,15,135 women and nine third-gender electors. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

The Election Commission of India had significantly strengthened security arrangements for the repoll after the April 29 election in the seat was countermanded following allegations of large-scale EVM tampering.

Around 35 companies of central forces have been deployed across the 285 polling booths, while 30 Quick Response Teams remain on standby to tackle any disturbance.

“Polling has remained peaceful in Falta. We have not received a single report of any problem from anywhere in the constituency. Till 3 pm, 74.10 per cent of polling has been registered,” the poll panel official told PTI.

Large queues of voters were seen outside polling stations since early morning.

Though six candidates are officially contesting the seat, Jahangir Khan had announced a few days ago that he would not contest the repoll, a decision that the All India Trinamool Congress described as his personal choice.

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Political tensions had remained high in the constituency since the April 29 polling, when complaints emerged from multiple booths alleging that perfume substances and adhesive tapes had been applied to EVMs, prompting the cancellation of the earlier election.