Amid protests by TMC leaders over alleged tampering in the West Bengal Assembly elections, State Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal clarified that “no CCTV cameras were switched off in the strong rooms.”
He also added that live footage of the rooms was made available to all parties.
He said that live footage from all eight strong rooms, including seven housing EVMs and one for postal ballots, was being continuously telecast, and representatives of political parties were allowed to monitor it from beyond the three-layer security.
Addressing concerns about activity seen around 4 pm, Agarwal explained that officials had opened the postal ballot strong room as per rules, with prior intimation given to all candidates and parties by the Returning Officer. “As per the rules, all political parties and candidates were informed by the RO (Returning Officer),” he said.
“They should have come there. After 4 pm, three candidates arrived and saw that the EVM strong rooms were sealed while the postal ballot strong room was open. The three then left,” the electoral officer said.
He also asserted that there would be “no law and order situation,” adding that “these things happen.” The officer further noted that the counting of votes would be conducted in a “100% neat and clean” manner.
In a press briefing late on Thursday, the West Bengal CEO said that the ECI is “fully prepared for vote counting and all procedures will be followed strictly.”
The statement comes after TMC leaders claimed that the BJP, in the presence of EC officials, attempted to open ballot boxes in the absence of relevant party representatives.
TMC leaders Shashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh also staged a dharna in front of the strong room outside Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.
To support their claims, the TMC also shared CCTV footage that it alleged was from inside a strong room in the Bengal capital. In a social media post, the party claimed that the footage exposed how the BJP, in collusion with the Election Commission, opened ballot boxes without the presence of relevant stakeholders.
(With inputs from PTI)