Two ballot boxes related to July 8 panchayat elections fished out from pond in North Dinajpur

 Administrative officials claimed that these ballot boxes were looted from a booth on the day panchayat elections were held across state

One of the ballot boxes being recovered from the pond in Belua, North Dinajpur, on Friday

Kousik Sen Raiganj, TT, 30.07.23: Two ballot boxes related to the July 8 panchayat elections were fished out from a pond in North Dinajpur district on Friday.

Administrative officials claimed that these ballot boxes were looted from a booth on the day panchayat elections were held across the state. BJP leaders claimed the ballot boxes were thrown into the pond on the day of counting, July 11, to manipulate results in favour of Trinamul, which the latter has denied.

Police have initiated a probe.

Sources said that on Friday, when some residents of Belua under Karandighi block of the district cast their net in the pond to catch fish, the ballot boxes were caught in the fishing net.

As the news of the unusual catch spread, a team from Dalkhola police station rushed to the site and seized the boxes.

“Two ballot boxes were recovered from the pond. We suspect these are among the three ballot boxes which were looted from booth number 25 of the block on the day of the election. Because of the loot, re-polling was held in the booth,” said Nisith Tamang, the BDO of Karandighi block.

District BJP leaders, however, alleged that these ballot boxes were thrown in the pond on July 11, when the votes were counted.

“During counting, malpractice was done in various ways to ensure the win of Trinamul candidates. We suspect these boxes were thrown in the pond to manipulate the final results,” said Basudeb Sarkar, the BJP president of North Dinajpur.

District Trinamul chief Kanhaialal Agarwal said these charges were baseless. "Let the police and administration find out the full truth of the ballot boxes. We had no role to play in this," he said.