Calcutta, July 12: Calcutta High Court today asked the Election Commission to recount the votes cast during last year’s Lok Sabha polls in the Balurghat constituency, following allegations of error in counting.

Justice Maharaja Sinha issued the directive on a writ petition moved by the Trinamul Congress candidate of the constituency, Biplab Mitra.

Mitra had lost the elections, held in May last year, to the RSP’s Prasanta Majumdar by 5,105 votes.

The results delivered by EVMs are tabulated in two forms. In the first form, the result from each individual machine is tabulated and the final results are compiled in the second form.

After losing the Balurghat Lok Sabha seat last year, Mitra had complained that the tabulation from the individual machines — there were 1,232 polling stations — had indicated that he had won the election.

However, when the final compilation was made, Mitra found that he had lost.

“My client had earlier complained to the chief electoral officer of the state. But since there was no reply, he approached the high court,” said Bimal Chatterjee, Mitra’s advocate.

The court ordered that the results of the two forms be compared on July 26.