A polling booth in West Bengal’s Rajarhat New Town Assembly constituency has come under scrutiny after voting figures showed an overwhelming victory for the BJP in an area where most voters belong to the Muslim community.
According to Alt News, Booth 164 in Musalman Para recorded 656 votes. BJP candidate Piyush Kanodia secured 637 of them. TMC candidate Tapash Chatterjee received five votes, while CPI(M)-ISFalliance candidate Saptarshi Deb got one vote.The result has triggered questions from local residents and opposition leaders due to the booth’s demographic profile. Reports stated that nearly 88% of the voters at Booth 164 belong to Muslims.
Further doubts emerged when voting patterns at neighbouring Booth 165 showed a sharply different outcome. The booth serves many of the same families after the original polling station was divided because of an increase in voters. There, Deb secured 299 votes, Chatterjee received 290, and Kanodia got 32 votes.
Ahmed Ali Mondol, a two-time CPI(M) panchayat member, claimed that he and eight members of his family voted for the CPI(M)-ISF alliance at Booth 164. He questioned how the alliance received only one vote in the official count. Similar concerns were raised by local ISF leader Akhtar Ali Mollah and polling agent Ramzan Ali.
Kanodia rejected allegations of irregularities and said the outcome reflected the voters’ choice. Explanations have been sought from election authorities.