Three boxes containing ballot papers were recovered from a pond in Cooch Behar on Sunday afternoon.

Sources said a resident of the Dhumpur-Kalibari area, which is under the Jiranpur panchayat of Cooch Behar 1 block, was taking a bath in the pond.

He found the boxes dumped in the pond. One after another, he could fish out three boxes, which contained ballots, from the pond.

Hundreds of people gathered and Kotwali police arrived. The police took away the boxes.

On July 8, when panchayat elections were held across the state, Trinamul and BJP supporters had clashed in a booth that was set up in a local primary school.

From the booth, three ballot boxes were allegedly taken away during the clash. Later, according to instructions of the State Election Commission, re-polling was held in the booth on July 10.

“We have to check out whether these were the ballot boxes which were snatched from the booth,” said a source in the block administration.

The counting of votes was held on July 11.