New Delhi, May 24 -- The counting of votes for the Falta assembly constituency repoll in West Bengal began at 8 am on Sunday under tight security, with BJP candidate Debangshu Panda surging ahead with a commanding lead after the very first of 21 counting rounds. The repoll, ordered after serious irregularities marred the original 29 April polling, has drawn intense scrutiny from across the political spectrum.

After the first counting round, Panda bagged 9,534 votes, opening up a lead of 9,086 votes over CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi. Trinamool Congress nominee Jahangir Khan, who had announced two days before the repoll that he would not contest and described it as a personal decision, trailed in third place with 210 votes.

An Elect...