One mostly Muslim booth flipped a controversial Bengal seat – 97% of its vote went to BJP
· Scroll
A close contest led by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal’s Rajarhat New Town constituency flipped to the Bharatiya Janata Party as a Muslim-majority booth returned an overwhelming vote for the Hindutva party, shows a Scroll analysis of the Election Commission’s official booth-wise data.
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The state voted in two phases for a new assembly, on April 23 and April 29. When the results were announced on May 5, they showed that the BJP had pulled off its first victory in West Bengal, winning 207 seats in the 294-member house.
In Rajarhat New Town, a ground report by Scroll had described how the Trinamool Congress had a lead of 316 votes on May 4. But after an additional round of counting the next day, the BJP won the seat with the same margin. The Election Commission did not respond to Scroll’s queries about the need for an extra round.
Candidates of both parties accused each other of manipulating the counting process.
At the heart of the controversial poll lies Musalman Para, a locality in North Kolkata with two booths – 164 and 165. Most of the registered voters in these booths are Muslim and they vote at the same polling centre, their electoral roll shows.
On May 4 and 5, when the votes were counted, booth 164 was...