Rejinagar

A Returning Officer for Election Commission of India has filed a police complaint against Trinamool Congress general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee. The complaint is about misleading information he shared on social media regarding the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll results.

During counting on Friday, Abhishek posted that BJP candidate Sakharav Sarkar got 909 votes at Booth No. 109 in Rejinagar. That booth only had 772 registered voters, so the numbers did not add up. The district electoral officer and district magistrate quickly rejected the claim. As per the electoral roll, the booth had 1,109 registered electors and 972 votes were actually polled.

On Saturday, the Returning Officer filed a police complaint at Rejinagar Police Station. It is still not clear whether Abhishek Banerjee will be called in for questioning.

Abhishek and Mamata Banerjee are currently in New Delhi. They are taking part in a movement demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Bypoll Details

The Rejinagar and Nandigram Assembly bypolls took place in East Midnapore district of West Bengal on October 6. Results were declared on October 9. BJP candidates won both seats with big margins, taking the party's total to 209 in the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly.

Vote counting for five Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat starts at 8am on Friday, October 9. Results will come through the day as counting moves along.

Bypolls were held on Tuesday across four states and one union territory. Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal, Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, and Thattanchavady in Puducherry voted for Assembly seats. The Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam also voted.

Where to Follow Results

Counting will happen at separate centres with security in place. You can track constituency-wise updates on the Election Commission of India official results website.

Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly seats in West Bengal saw 80.48 per cent voter turnout in Tuesday's bypolls. Nandigram in Purba Medinipur saw 80.89 per cent polling, while Rejinagar in Murshidabad saw 80.08 per cent. A senior Election Commission official confirmed these numbers on Wednesday. Around 5.24 lakh voters were eligible to vote in the two seats.

Election Commission called the polling "more or less peaceful," but Rejinagar saw serious charges. Congress, CPI(M) and Mamata AITC said their polling agents were stopped from entering or pushed out of several booths.

Opposition parties allege malpractice

West Bengal Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar said party agents were forced out of more than 100 booths. Congress candidate Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi sat in protest outside Rejinagar police station, demanding the poll be cancelled. Mamata AITC candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury also asked for repolling. He said only 25-30 of his party's 315 polling agents were still at their booths.

BJP rejected the charges of booth capturing and malpractice. It accused the opposition of trying to undermine the electoral process.

In Nandigram, Congress candidate Milan Pradhan alleged vote-loot, voter intimidation and biased police action. He said CRPF personnel assaulted him in front of senior officers. The arrest of AJUP chief Humayun Kabir during a clash with police also drew attention.

Votes will be counted on October 9.

Nandigram bypoll was needed after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari left the seat to keep Bhabanipur, while Rejinagar bypoll happened after Kabir resigned to keep Naoda.

At least 12 of 19 tribunal judges in West Bengal raised serious alarms about the ECINET portal in August. They said it simply does not work for the job it was built to do. These tribunals were set up by order of the Supreme Court. They hear appeals from voters whose names were removed during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

Here is the scale of the problem. About 27 lakh voters were left off the final voter list in West Bengal. Of those, 22 lakh approached tribunals to get their names restored. But the portal they depend on cannot do basic things:

• Send notices to voters
• Hold virtual hearings
• Restore a deleted name on the roll
• Allow appellants to download tribunal orders

The judges sent repeated requests to fix these issues. Nothing happened. One judge had already written to the Calcutta High Court in May with the same concerns. The ECI was told about these problems well before a September report made them public.

Only in late September did Election Commission announce an independent expert committee to review ECINET. That came months after the judges first raised the alarm.

What This Means for Voters

Tribunal appeals have mostly ended with names being restored to the electoral roll. But with the portal broken and appeals piling up, many voters may never get a hearing. They may have lost their right to vote in assembly elections and the recent by-polls in Nandigram and Rejinagar. I think this is a serious blow to voter confidence at a time when it matters most.

Close to 79 per cent of the roughly 5.24 lakh electors in Nandigram and Rejinagar had voted by 5 pm on Tuesday in the West Bengal Assembly bypolls. Nandigram recorded 79.39 per cent turnout and Rejinagar logged 78.42 per cent. Voters were still waiting in line when these figures were announced.

But the day did not go smoothly. Opposition parties accused the ruling parties of violence, voter intimidation and polling problems in both seats. Small scuffles were reported between supporters of the ruling and opposition parties.

Humayun Kabir Arrest Triggers Tension

AJUP chief Humayun Kabir, the Nowda MLA, was arrested in Rejinagar after a heated argument with police outside his party office. He claimed police were acting on orders from Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and told people to resist with heavy wooden clubs. Police said Kabir was neither a candidate nor an authorised election agent and was trying to sway voters. His son Golam Nabi Azad is contesting the Rejinagar seat.

Congress Demands Repolling

State Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar alleged that party agents were forcibly removed from over 100 booths in Rejinagar. Congress nominee Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi staged a sit-in outside Rejinagar police station, demanding the poll be cancelled. Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called the election a farce and accused police of rigging it on orders from senior district officers.

In Nandigram, Congress nominee Milan Pradhan alleged vote theft and one-sided police action. He said nearly 100 women from Rajaram Chowk were turned away after being told their votes had already been cast.

BJP Rejects All Allegations

BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar dismissed the charges, saying Congress is setting up excuses to question the polling because they know they will lose. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya predicted a record winning margin in Nandigram and a comfortable win in Rejinagar.

Election Commission said polling stayed peaceful apart from a few minor incidents. Its Complaint Monitoring System got 37 complaints and the National Grievance Service Portal received 60. A report on Kabir's arrest has been sent to the EC.

Votes will be counted on October 9.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said election rules apply equally to every public representative during bypolls. His remarks came after Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief and MLA Humayun Kabir was detained for breaking polling rules.

Rules Are the Same for Everyone

Adhikari cast his vote at the Nandigram bypoll. He said entering a polling booth outside one's designated area is a violation that the Election Commission will act on. Even the Chief Minister cannot break these rules, he stated. He also said election oversight lies only with the Election Commission and not with state authorities.

Kabir was taken into custody by Rejinagar Police from his party office in Murshidabad during the Rejinagar Assembly bypoll. Beldanga SDPO Anandjit Hore confirmed that enough police and Central Armed Police Forces were deployed to keep the situation under control.

What Happened to Both Seats

Bypolls are now running in Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies. The Nandigram seat fell vacant after Adhikari won from two constituencies in earlier Assembly elections and kept the other one. The Rejinagar seat became empty after Kabir quit his party and the House, having earlier won from Nowda.