Repolling in one of the polling booths in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district was halted for over an hour on Saturday morning due to EVM malfunctioning.
Voters faced waits of over an hour due to technical malfunctions as repolling began at 7 am across 15 booths in the Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim constituencies.
People got frustrated and demanded that the booth be shut if the voting was not taking place.
"If voting is not happening, close the booth, tell us, and we will go home. Why are we standing here? It has been nearly an hour, they should close it, so that we can go home," a voter was quoted by ANI.
Under heightened security arrangements, repolling started at 7 am on Saturday across 15 polling booths.
Voters in Diamond Harbour acknowledged the chaos of the April 29 polls but described the repolling process at their booths as smooth and orderly.
Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel have been deployed near the polling booth to prevent any disruptions during the voting process.
The re-polling was conducted after BJP's West Bengal co-incharge, Amit Malviya, alleged that voters were prevented from choosing the party candidate at several polling booths in Falta under the Diamond Harbour constituency during phase two of the assembly elections in the state.
The BJP has fielded Dipak Kumar Halder against TMC's sitting MLA Panna Lal Halder in Diamond Harbour. In the Magrahat Paschim constituency, TMC's Samim Ahamed Molla is pitted against BJP's Goursundar Ghosh.
The ECI received at least 77 complaints linked to EVM tampering during the second phase of the West Bengal elections. Officials said that in some cases, the buttons of a political party on EVMs were covered with adhesive tape or darkened with ink, stopping voters from casting their votes.
The repolling follows claims by Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, who said voters were prevented from voting for the party candidate at several polling booths in Falta under the Diamond Harbour constituency during phase two of the state assembly elections.
The West Bengal Assembly elections were held in two phases—April 23 and April 29—amid unprecedented security arrangements. Counting of votes will take place on May 4.