The winner of ward 31 of the Asansol Municipal Corporation was decided through a lottery after candidates of both the Trinamul Congress and the CPM were tied as they had polled the same number of votes at the end of the final round of counting.

The lottery to decide the winner was conducted according to guidelines prepared by the State Election Commission under provisions laid down in the West Bengal Municipal Election Act. CPM candidate Tanusree Roy and Trinamul candidate Asha Prasad had both secured 2,358 votes resulting in the fix.

Returning officer and sub-divisional magistrate of Asansol Abhigyan Panja later declared Asha Prasad as the winner following an open lottery conducted by him.

To conduct the lottery, names of candidates were written on two pieces of papers that were put into a transparent jar. Panja shook the jar in front of the two candidates and journalists present there.

Later, Panja picked up one paper from the jar that had the name of Trinamul candidate Asha Prasad who was declared the winner.

“The process was done in front of the candidates and the media to maintain transparency,” said Panja.

Sources in the poll panel said that the SEC guidelines provided to returning officers specifies how to decide a winner in case of a tie.

The winner Asha Prasad said she was happy at the way luck and people’s mandate both went in favour of her.

“The people already blessed me but I was worried after the result was declared tied. However, luck also supported me and I was declared winner. Now my only priority is to work hard for the people of my ward,” she told reporters.

CPM candidate Tanusree said: “I am not satisfied with the process of the lottery. The result did not reflect the people’s mandate as the ruling party had rigged the polls.”