The Election Commission of India (EC) has rubbished chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s claims of the presence of outsiders in booth 7 of the Boyal Maktab Primary School in Nandigram and intimidation of voters by central force jawans during the poll process on April 1.

The poll panel has termed the allegations “factually incorrect, without any empirical evidence whatsoever and devoid of substance”.

Trinamul supremo Mamata, who is contesting from Nandigram, was stuck for over two hours inside the booth. In its five-page reply to the chief minister’s notes to the poll panel, which she wrote by hand when she was stuck in the booth, the EC said that the reports from various levels of officers engaged in the poll process suggest “there was no report of any violence, nor was there any intimidation of voters”.

“It is self-evident from the perusal of all the reports that the allegations mentioned in your hand-written note are factually incorrect, without any empirical evidence whatsoever and devoid of substance. In fact it is a matter of deep regret that a media narrative was sought to be weaved hour after hour to misguide the biggest stakeholders which is the voters by a candidate who also happens to be Hon’ble CM of the state.… There could not have been a greater misdemeanour,” EC secretary general Umesh Sinha wrote to her on Saturday.

Mamata could not leave the booth — flanked by two neighbourhoods divided between two communities and opposing political loyalties — as sloganeering crowds swelled. Riot police under the supervision of IPS officer Nagendra Tripathi came after she made a series of calls — to governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, the EC, police and administration.

Sinha wrote that the situation became tense after she arrived at the booth at 1.45pm. Though Trinamul complained that its polling agent was not allowed inside the booth, the EC letter has pointed out that officials had tried to bring the agent as soon as complaints were received at 7.40am, but the agent was unwilling.

At 3.35pm, he added, “Shri Nagendra Tripathi very efficiently took Hon’ble CM away from Polling Station with security coverage. People shouted slogans in favour of Hon’ble CM. Thereafter, immediately other people also left.” (sic)

The poll panel also wrote there was “no evidence at all to suggest that the BSF jawans who were deployed at the polling station indulged in any inappropriate behaviour”. “Moreover, the complaint that they did not allow voters to go inside the booth is far from truth.”

The letter pointed out that the CCTV camera installed in the booth made it clear that polling agents of the BJP, the CPM and an Independent were present inside the polling station during the entire duration of the polling process.

“In the reports of officials at various levels there is no mention of either outsiders or guns and goons capturing the booth,” reads the EC letter.

The poll panel on Sunday also asked Trinamul to stop enrolling Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste women under a scheme promised in its poll manifesto by way of a helpline. Sources said Trinamul promised a monthly aid of Rs 1,000 to all SC and ST women in its manifesto. However, complaints emerged that Trinamul was enrolling women for the scheme in some areas.