Bengal, Tamil Nadu see highest ever polling with no repolls; EC's three-tier verification success

NEW DELHI: Not a single repoll has been recommended across the 44,376 polling stations in West Bengal and the 75,064 polling stations in Tamil Nadu, EC sources told TOI on Friday. This is a break from the pattern of multiple repolls recommended in the past elections, particularly in Bengal, on account of political violence and alleged electoral malpractices. Both Bengal and Tamil Nadu had witnessed the highest ever polling percentages on Thursday. Bengal clocked nearly 92.9% turnout in its first phase after deletion of around 83 lakh electors from the state's poll rolls due to SIR. A three-point verification was put in place at all the polling stations of Bengal on Thursday, so as to keep a tight check on electoral malpractices associated with past elections in the state, known in common parlance as 'chaapa', 'source jamming' and 'booth jamming'. The first point of verification was the immediate area surrounding the polling station. Section 163 of BNSS (which corresponds with Section 144 of the erstwhile IPC) was imposed on Thursday within a 200-metre area of the polling stations. Identity papers of each person entering this area were checked and only genuine electors, election officials etc allowed entry. The second round of verification was done at the point of entry to the polling station. Booth-level officers and volunteers of NSS and NCC were deployed to check each person before letting him queue up for voting. This included verifying identity of 'pardanasheen' women (women wearing face veils as a religious custom) by female staff. The latter, as instructed by EC, checked the identity card, voter card or voter slip of each person before allowing them to proceed to the voters' queue. The third verification was the normal identity check performed by the polling officer inside the polling booth, before the elector gets his finger inked and casts his vote.