While the Election Commission of India (ECI) is counting votes in the repoll of Valta Assembly constituency in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Jehangir Khan continued to collect votes on the official results portal. This is despite Jahangir Khan publicly announcing his withdrawal from the electoral contest earlier this week.
The BJP’s Dibangshu Panda was leading by a large margin after more than half of the votes were counted on the afternoon of May 24. Banda received 67% of the total votes. Sambo Nath Kurmi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) came in second place with about 23% of the votes, followed by Abdul Razzaq Molla of the Congress Party with about 6%.
TMC member Jahangir Khan, who did not even cast his vote in the re-poll on May 21, received more than 3% despite his political exit from the competition.
Why did Jahangir withdraw?
Jahangir Khan announced his withdrawal from the elections on May 19, just two days before the re-vote. He cited among his reasons the development promises made by the new prime minister, Suvendu Adhikari, the first BJP chief minister of Bengal after the party defeated the entrenched TMC.
“The prime minister has announced a special package to develop Valta, and that is why I have decided to stay away from the re-poll process in the constituency,” said Khan, 41, a prominent Muslim businessman and political figure in a Hindu-majority state where about a third of the population is Muslim.
He did not seek to confront the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the center, which recently seized power in Bengal. He explained in a press conference: “I am a son of Valta, and I want the region to live in peace and grow… I dreamed of Valta becoming “Sonar” (Golden Valta). I am stepping aside to ensure peace and prosperity for Valta and its people.”
After Khan described his exit as a “step towards the growth of the region”, the junta issued a clarification stating that the withdrawal was his personal decision and was not authorized by the party.
Bengal witnessed election-related violence, as the TMC’s 15-year rule led by Mamata Banerjee ended with results for 293 of the 294 assembly seats announced on May 4.
Valta has been marked for re-poll after reports of widespread pre-poll and voting day violence, especially by BJP supporters. Khan and IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma, who has been appointed by the EC as Superintendent of Police, were also in a confrontation as voters alleged that TMC cadres were putting black tape on other names in the electronic voting machine.
Why did he stay on EVM
But Khan’s public exit from the contest, after the May 4 results showed the BJP in power anyway, was essentially a political declaration.
According to Section 37 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a candidate is legally permitted to withdraw his candidacy only until a strictly defined deadline after the initial scrutiny of the papers. Once this timeline expires, the final list of competing candidates becomes legally closed.
For the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections, which included Valtha constituency, the last date for withdrawal of nominations was April 13. Because Jahangir Khan announced his decision to step down on May 19, weeks after this legal deadline, it was not legally possible to remove his name and symbol from the ballot.
After the EC ordered new elections to be held on 21 May in all 285 booths in Valta following reports of “serious electoral irregularities and subversion of the democratic process” during the original 29 April phase, rules still stipulated that this re-poll must take place with the same list of candidates and machine configuration as the initial ballot.
Jahangir Khan had great control over the SP cadre in South 24 Parganas district, which made him the party’s choice as the new candidate after winning the last three elections here as well as a by-poll.
Since his name and TMC’s two-flower symbol remained on the EVM, voters who went to the polls still had the option to press it. Whether done by loyal party supporters who chose to vote for the TMC anyway, by those who do not know its political declaration, or by some indifferent people, every press of this button is a legally valid vote and should be counted.
