NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has not recommended any repolls across the 44,376 polling stations in West Bengal and the 75,064 polling stations in Tamil Nadu, as reported by EC sources on Friday. This marks a departure from previous elections, where multiple repolls were common due to incidents of political violence and allegations of electoral malpractice, particularly in West Bengal.
Both regions experienced historically high voter turnout on Thursday, with Bengal achieving a nearly 92.9% participation rate in its first phase. This follows the removal of approximately 8.3 million electors from the state’s electoral rolls due to the Systematic Voter’s Identity Verification (SVIV) process.
To prevent electoral fraud, a three-point verification system was implemented at all polling stations in West Bengal. The first verification involved the area surrounding the polling stations, where Section 163 of the Bengal Normal State of Affairs Act (which corresponds to Section 144 of the former Indian Penal Code) was enforced within a 200-meter radius. Identity documents of all individuals entering this zone were inspected, allowing only authentic voters and election officials access.
The second verification occurred at the entrance to the polling stations, where booth-level officers and volunteers from the National Service Scheme (NSS) and the National Cadet Corps (NCC) checked the identity of each individual before they queued to vote. This included a specific process for ‘pardanasheen’ women, who wear face veils for religious reasons, with female staff tasked to verify their identity cards, voter cards, or voter slips prior to allowing entry to the voting line.
The third verification was the standard identity check conducted by polling officers inside the booths, performed before voters had their fingers inked and cast their ballots.
