With just hours to go before the May 4 vote counting for the 2026 Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have made a major allegation against the Election Commission (EC) that could affect the outcome of the polls.
About 1,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, allegedly for the Noapara constituency, were found discarded in (and around) a drain by locals in the Subhash Nagar area of Nilganj, which falls under the Madhyamgram constituency.
Visuals from the scene show the white VVPAT slips lying in a dirty pile, mixed with other waste. The party symbols of the TMC, CPI(M), and the BJP could also be seen on the slips, some of which were unclear because of the dirt on them.
Both Madhyamgram and Noapara are a part of West Bengal's politically important North 24 Parganas district.
"The police were immediately sent to the spot after receiving in We are investigating how the VVPAT slips reached there. The Election Commission has also been informed," said District Magistrate Shilpa Gaurisaria, as per a Times of India report.
(More details are awaited.)
