Tension is mounting in the run-up to the final countdown on May 4, when votes will be counted for the West Bengal Assembly elections.Meanwhile, repolling in 15 booths of South 24 Parganas ended peacefully on Saturday. Repolling was held in 11 booths in Magrahat Paschim constituency and four in the Diamond Harbour.Voters in Falta are also demanding repolling in several booths, alleging they couldn’t vote for the BJP candidate as they were prevented from doing so by TMC leaders in the area. The State Election Commission said ordering a repoll was not in its hands and a report from Falta had already reached the Chief Election Commissioner’s office.Of the 31 seats in the South 24 Parganas, the TMC had won 30 and one seat was won by the Indian Secular Front in 2021.Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also addressed a virtual meeting of the TMC cadres and counting agents this afternoon. Banerjee assured them that the TMC was coming back to power by winning more than 200 of the 294 Assembly seats to form the next government.Mamata instructed them to be present at the polling centres from early morning to thwart any attempt by the BJP to manipulate the EVMs. She cautioned her supporters that even if the power goes off for 10 seconds, they should keep an eagle eye to ensure the machines were not being tampered with.During her virtual interaction with the TMC cadres today, Mamata discarded the prediction of exit polls that indicated a big win for the BJP, saying that these polls were carried out to assure the stock markets and had nothing to do with ground reality.She and party MP Abhishek Banerjee, urged TMC cadres, who have been tasked with being present at the counting centres, to demand a recount in any constituency where the BJP candidates’ winning margin is 200 votes or less. The two leaders also told them to give equal importance to the postal ballots.The unprecedented hype and controversy over guarding the ‘strongrooms’ where EVMs are kept, has already built a palpable tension that may explode on the day of counting.The BJP alleged that Mamata’s action was making it clear that the TMC had lost the election and was preparing its cadres to create trouble outside the counting centres on the day of the counting to claim the party was defeated by unfair means by the BJP and the Election Commission.In another setback for the TMC, the Supreme Court today turned down its request for deputing state government officials along with the central officers as observers in the counting centres.The SC assured the TMC that the EC appointed observers will follow the apex court’s guideline in ‘letter and spirit’ to ensure a free and fair counting of the votes. Moreover, it pointed out that polling agents of each political parties’ candidates will also be in the booth to ensure there was no malpractices during the counting.Meanwhile, 77 police observers and 165 counting personnel will be deployed to man votes in the 77 counting centres in West Bengal by the EC. The police observers and a large contingent of the police will be outside the centres to ensure there was no trouble during counting.However, many observers think it will come as a big surprise if the counting of votes in Bengal on May 4, passes off without any major trouble or violence.