Kolkata: Questions remain unanswered as scepticism continues to rise over the landslide victory secured by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in the Muslim-dominated Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s capital.
The controversy pertains to Booth 164 in Rajarhat New Town, where not only has the Opposition flagged several discrepancies, but locals have also questioned where their votes went.
AltNews reported that upon their visit to the Assembly constituency, multiple voters said the results were impossible and absurd, given the area’s demography.
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In Booth 164, Saptarshi Deb, candidate from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All India Secular Front alliance, received just one vote. Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Tapash Chatterjee got five votes and BJP candidate Piyush Kanodia secured 637 votes out of the 656 votes polled.
The neighbouring Booth 165 drew voters from the same locality, but in contrast, Kanodia received 32 votes, while Deb secured 299 and Chatterjee 290.
Situated in the Musalman Para area, in Booth 164, where Muslims account for 88 per cent of the electorate, BJP got 97 pc of the votes.
Constituency muddled in controversy right from the start
Unlike the rest of Bengal, where results were declared earlier, New Town’s results came a day later on May 5. This added to the existing controversy, as the seat underwent 18 rounds of counting, exceeding the pre-notified number by one.
On the polling day, 52 more votes than those that had actually been cast were recorded on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at Booth 164. With a total of 330 polling stations in the constituency, as well as the 10 auxiliary booths, each tallying round was to include counting of 20 EVMs. With this distribution, 16 rounds would be conducted involving 20 EVMs and a final round with the remaining 10, making it 17 rounds as per the pre-notified number.
However, after polling agents saw the EVM display extra votes at Booth 164, voting was suspended for almost two hours. Subsequently, agents from different political parties submitted a joint written request seeking a VVPAT count for the booth after the error.
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According to Alt News, polling agents were unsure whether the VVPAT slips, or Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, used for the mock poll, had been removed. The 18th round was conducted shortly after the joint request.
“The mock poll that was held, which we had seen on the machine as zero earlier, had somehow been adjusted,” said Ahmed Ali Mondol, a two-time CPI(M) panchayat member. He had also signed the request.
Dramatic change in last round of counting
Until round 17 of counting, TMC’s Tapash Chatterjee led against BJP candidate Kanodia. The overall winning margin for the constituency was 316 votes. On May 4, at 11 pm, Chatterjee was leading, with one booth left to be counted. Following the last and 18th round, covering only Booth 164, the results changed dramatically, reversing the lead with Kanodia now leading by 316 votes, which eventually secured him the win.
Scroll.in first flagged the unusual results marked by a last-minute change.
Residents of Musalman Para, including members of CPI(M) and ISF, were surprised by the outcome, as many claimed to have voted for other political parties. If the final result from Booth 164 were to be true, the ISF workers and CPI(M) panchayat members all voted for the saffron party. “That is simply not true. Then where did our votes go?” they said.
The original polling was divided into two auxiliary booths, 164 and 165, due to an increase in voters, the locals said. People from the same neighbourhood, some from the same families, were assigned to different booths.
“We cannot fathom how the BJP secured so many votes from our booth. Something certainly appears unusual,” said one resident.
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Mondol said when he saw how many votes CPI(M)-ISF and TMC received, he was shocked. “How did this happen? This is a minority area. Even I was stunned.” He and his family of eight members voted at Booth 164 for the CPI(M)-ISF alliance. “My family and I all voted from Booth 164 for the alliance candidate. But the results show only one vote from the booth. Where did our votes go?” Mondol asked.
The CPI panchayat members echoed similar concerns, saying the results did not match the actual village’s political demographic. “How could the candidate receive only one vote from the booth?” an ISF leader questioned.
Many such workers and leaders told Alt News they voted for CPI(M), claiming their families did the same.
Even with little to no significant campaigning, BJP saw overwhelming results. Residents said they had not seen any particular campaigning done by the party, with some stating that its candidate, Piyush Kanodia, rarely visited the area before or after winning.
CPI(M)-ISF accuses BJP of being involved in recount
CPI(M)-ISF candidate Saptarshi Deb said the counting process was going smoothly initially. “I saw that after 17 rounds, Tapash Chatterjee was leading. No one else ever led according to the Election Commission data. Initially, the lead was quite large. Then, it kept narrowing. But it never completely reversed,” Deb said. According to him, after the 18th round of counting was added at around midnight, the TMC candidate was still leading.
He then raised concerns about inconsistencies during the last round of counting. Upon receiving information about a recount, Deb arrived at the centre but was barred from entering. “They (officials) were not allowing anyone to go in on the second day. I am sure that the BJP candidate was inside. His car was parked outside, and later we saw videos of him coming out of the counting centre with the winning certificate. The Trinamool candidate was not present,” Deb said.
Both TMC and BJP are reportedly playing the blame game, he added. “Who requested the recounting? BJP is saying that TMC requested it, and TMC is saying BJP requested it.”
Deb noted that while candidates from other constituencies had already received their Form 20 (data entry of the counting centres), the candidates from New Town had not yet received theirs, even after two days. They were given the document almost two weeks after the results.
“I can’t tell you what kind of manipulation happened here. But this is a booth where we led even in the panchayat elections. Demographically, too, it seems unlikely that it would overwhelmingly favour the BJP,” he said.
In response, Kanodia refuted the allegations, remarking that his opponents were “living in a fool’s paradise.” He also denied Deb’s claims that he was inside the counting centre on May 5.
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