India orders fresh voting at three Agra teachers’ constituency stations

India’s Election Commission has declared voting held at three polling stations in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra Division Teachers’ constituency void and ordered a fresh poll on Monday, October 26. The rerun will take place from 8am to 4pm at stations 20, 21 and 26. They are located at Room 1 of the Kheragarh tehsil campus, Room 1 of the Sainya block office and Room 1 of the Fatehabad block office, according to India Today and The Hindu.

The commission acted under Section 58A(2)(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The original voting took place on October 23, and the order followed a recommendation from the Returning Officer, conveyed through Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Electoral Officer. The commission has instructed officials not to assign the fresh poll to anyone whose alleged unlawful activity or irregular conduct may have contributed to the decision to invalidate the earlier vote.

Voters’ right-hand index fingers will receive indelible-ink markings during the rerun, India Today reported. The Election Commission has also directed that responsibility be established for the circumstances that led to the re-poll. The inquiry is to examine the roles of police personnel and polling staff, with the Agra divisional commissioner asked to submit a report by October 25.

The Hindu reported that the decision came amid allegations by Samajwadi Party candidate Akash Agarwal that his supporters had faced serious harassment during the election. Agarwal said he felt he was being treated like a terrorist and announced that he intended to change his faith, according to the newspaper. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav linked Agarwal’s allegations to the wider Agarwal community.

In a post on X, Yadav accused BJP members, allies and officials of electoral malpractice and said the party had crossed limits in its effort to defeat the SP candidate. Those claims are political allegations; the reports do not establish them as findings by the Election Commission. The supplied reports also mention separate discrepancies in electoral rolls for the Allahabad-Jhansi graduates’ constituency, which the commission attributed to a software error.

They do not say that issue was the reason for the Agra re-poll. The immediate official action concerns only the three named Agra stations, where voting will be repeated while the inquiry into responsibility proceeds.