80.20% turnout in Darjeeling constituency vote

SNS, Siliguri, 18 April 2014: The Trinamul Congress has demanded re-polling in a booth under the Siliguri assembly constituency in the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency that went to the polls yesterday.

The final voter turnout in the constituency was 80.20%, while the total number of votes cast was 11,41,128, officials said today. Polling at the Bidyasagar Pathsala booth at Baghajatin Colony had been affected as the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) there allegedly malfunctioned.

A senior district party leader, Jayanta Kar, said there are 1027 voters in the booth, and that they have demanded re-polling there. The Trinamul Congress, CPI-M and the BJP attended post-poll scrutiny of the election papers in Siliguri today.

North Bengal Development minister Gautam Deb said the machine showed discrepancies in the number of votes cast and the number displayed by the EVM.An election official said that though the party has raised the demand, the authority concerned will not have a say in whether to allow re-polling.“We have received reports prepared by the observers (on the re-polling issue) and sent them to the chief electoral officer (CEO),” the Darjeeling district election officer and district magistrate, Puneet Yadav, said.

The officer in-charge, election, Siliguri, Pradip Das, meanwhile said Siliguri assembly constituency recorded a voter turnout of 81%."The polling percentage in Matigara-Naxalbari was 85.3% and it was 88% in Pahansidewa in the plains under the Darjeeling constituency," Mr Das said.

According to sources, the administration has received complaints about political party activists gathering in groups within 200 metres of the polling booths, despite a prohibitory order banning such gatherings. "Most the complaints were received from Siliguri," said an official.Representatives of political parties can, meanwhile, keep watch on the strong rooms at the Siliguri College from outside.

"Proper security arrangements are in place with the central paramilitary forces been deployed and CCTV cameras installed,” a poll official said.