ECI scraps Bengal’s Falta poll citing ‘severe electoral offences’, orders fresh voting on May 21

The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced fresh elections in Falta Assembly constituency of West Bengal, citing “severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process” during the polling held on April 29.

The fresh voting in Falta will be held on May 21 and the counting of votes will take place on May 24.

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“On Consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on 29th April 2026 in 144-Falta Assembly Constituency, West Bengal: ECI directs that fresh poll shall be conducted in all the 285 polling stations, including Auxiliary polling stations; Fresh Poll in all polling stations will be conducted between 7 AM to 6 PM on 21st May 2026; and ⁠Counting of votes will take place on 24th May 2026,” the ECI said.

Why did the ECI order fresh elections in Falta?

When voting was underway in Falta, a purported video had surfaced on social media showing an EVM machine with BJP symbol button covered with tape.

Sharing the purported video on X, BJP leader Amit Malviya had claimed that the option to vote for the BJP on EVMs was blocked using tape across several booths.

The alleged video, Malviya claimed, was from a polling booth in Falta Assembly constituency.

He claimed that the same issue was found in several polling booths, where the option to vote for the BJP in the EVM machine was covered using tapes. Some reports had also claimed that ink was also used to hide the BJP symbol on EVMs.

“This is the so-called Diamond Harbour Model, the same template that helped Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee secure his Lok Sabha seat,” he said.

The BJP leader had further demanded immediate repolling in all affected booths and provided details of such polling booths with “evidence”.

“We demand an immediate repoll in all affected booths in Falta where such incidents have occurred. Details of a couple of such booths, along with evidence, are provided below: Falta 144 Part 170 Room No. 2 – Harindanga High School. Booth 189 is also compromised in a similar manner along with several others,” the BJP leader had added.

In response to BJP’s allegations, the Chief Electoral Officer of Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, had said that repolling could be considered in Falta if such incidents were reported in large number of booths.