ERODE: Surveillance camera repair in Erode strong room was fixed within an hour, said Raja Gopal Sunkara, Returning Officer, in Erode on Monday morning.
Speaking to reporters, District Returning Officer Raja Gopal Sunkara said, “Polling for the Lok Sabha elections was held in Tamil Nadu on April 19. Subsequently, the EVMs for the Erode Lok Sabha constituency have been kept in the strong rooms set up in the Government Engineering College campus in Chithode. Adequate security is provided to the strong rooms. This security will continue till June 4, when the counting of votes will take place.
“I and the District Superintendent of Police are inspecting the strong rooms where the EVMs are kept twice daily. A total of 221 surveillance cameras have been installed in the college campus for surveillance purposes. Among them, 48 surveillance cameras are installed outside the strong rooms where EVMs for 6 Assembly constituencies are kept. In this, it has 8 cameras in front of the one room where the EVMs for one Assembly constituency are kept. There is an administrative block to monitor all the surveillance cameras. We have also arranged for political parties to monitor the strong rooms from there.” he added.
Further, Raja Gopal Sunkara said, “In this case, on Sunday night around 11.30 pm, a camera was repaired, where the EVM’s for Erode West constituency are kept. The CCTV camera was replaced within an hour. Other cameras there continued to operate. It is common for electronic items to be repaired unexpectedly. We have installed quality CCTV cameras following Election Commission of India norms. No political parties have complained about this. Because we have taken immediate action on this.”
Earlier, there was a confusion and stir among political parties in Erode after the information of the non-functional of a CCTV camera in the strong room. Amidst this, the District Returning Officer inspected the strong rooms on Sunday night and Monday morning. It is noteworthy that the district police have banned the flying of drones in the area.