A delegation comprising of CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury and S Ramachandran Pillai met the Election Commission of India and submitted the following memorandum on the widespread rigging in the third phase of elections in West Bengal on April 30, 2014.

THERE has been large-scale rigging and violence in the elections to the 16th Lok Sabha held in West Bengal on April 30, 2014.  This has completely distorted the process of conducting free and fair polls. This is a grave affront to parliamentary democracy in our country.  People’s faith in the democratic electoral process can only be restored if a re-poll is conducted at least in the booths mentioned below.

On behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), we, hereby demand that a re-poll be conducted with proper deployment of central paramilitary forces, so that people can vote freely and fairly.  We also demand that proper process to identify and apprehend those responsible for such grave malpractices and the consequent gross distortion of the election process. 

We can cite one example of gross inadequacy concerning the number of measures that the Election Commission had suggested, to be mandatorily employed for the conduct of the polls.  Of the 17,330 polling booths where polling was held on April 30, only 0324 had a video surveillance of any sort.  While conducting the re-poll, these distortions must also be properly addressed apart from deploying sufficient number of central paramilitary forces.  

25 Howrah PC

169 Bally AC:  22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 32, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45-48, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159-162, 182, 183, 184, 185, 188, 189 – 30 booths.

170 Howrah Uttar AC: 10, 37, 38, 44-49, 53-55, 59-64, 75, 78-95, 131, 138, 142-145, 149, 174, 230, 231 – 46 booths.

173 Howrah Dakshin AC: 135-138, 196 – 5 booths.

174 Sankrail (SC) AC: 73-77 – 5 booths.

175 Panchla AC : 136, 142, 186, 187, 188, 202, 210, 211, 231, 256, 257 – 11 booths.

26-Uluberia PC

177 Uluberia Uttar (SC) AC: 34, 35, 41, 42, 43, 47, 52, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 80, 89 – 15 booths.

180 Bagnan AC: 89, 96, 97, 114, 117, 122, 123, 138, 143, 144, 145, 166, 168, 169, 172, 225, 226, 227, 238 – 19 booths.

181 Amta AC:  100, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 122, 123, 124, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 171, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 190, 193, 194, 200, 201 – 42 booths.

182-Udaynarayanpur AC: CPI(M) polling agents driven out. Booth Nos: 53, 56, 58, 63, 70, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 112, 116, 118, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 140, 141, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 153, 163, 164, 166, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, 177, 178, 203, 205, 206, 207, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 220, 221, 230, 233, 234, 239, 244, 245, 253 – 70 booths.

29-Arambag (SC) PC

199 Pursurah AS: 12, 18, 19, 20, 39, 40, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 73, 75, 76, 82, 83, 84, 85, 151, 163, 164, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188 – 38 booths.

200 Arambagh AS: 1, 2, 16, 17, 20, 23, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 100, 101, 102, 109, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 180, 181, 182, 190, 192, 196, 206, 258, 266, 271, 276 – 44 booths.

201 Goghat AS: 59, 60, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 100, 101, 102, 109, 116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 127, 159, 160, 161, 162, 170, 171, 172, 180, 181, 182, 190, 192, 196, 200, 206, 236, 237, 249, 258, 266, 271, 276 – 50 booths.

202 Khanakul AS: 76, 77, 78, 240 – 4 booths.

38-Bardhaman Purba (SC) PC