TIRUPPUR: The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has urged the Election Commission to strengthen security at the EVM strongroom for the Tiruppur South constituency at the LRG Govt Arts College for Women on Palladam Road in Tiruppur.
The party's Tiruppur district secretary, S Balamurugan, also demanded the EC to hold an inquiry after the timer of the CCTV system to monitor all the EVM strongrooms at the college allegedly malfunctioned on Saturday morning.
BJP agents who were on monitoring duty observed that the timer on the surveillance camera recordings was running more than two hours behind at 7.30 am.
The timers of the surveillance cameras on the TV screens for all eight constituencies in Tiruppur district showed the wrong time.
Party booth agents recorded a video and posted it in WhatsApp groups. Moreover, they raised doubts and also alleged that connections to the TV screens frequently got disconnected.
On receiving information, District Collector and Returning Officer Manish Narnaware visited the counting centre. Subsequently, the running time of the surveillance cameras was fixed. However, the TVK has raised various doubts and demanded an inquiry.
S Balamurugan, District Secretary of TVK, said, "We have received information that the surveillance cameras were not functioning for two hours early Saturday morning. This is why the timer on the surveillance camera showed a lag of two hours. This raises doubts. The ECI must conduct a thorough inquiry and disclose the information transparently."
"Furthermore, the strongroom housing the voting machines for the Tiruppur South constituency lacks enough security, unlike the other rooms. The doors of the strongrooms of other constituencies have been barricaded with wood and secured with two locks. There is only one lock on the door of the strong room for the South constituency. Therefore, security must be strengthened," he added.
"Our booth agents received permission letters to engage in surveillance inside only after the surveillance camera glitch came to light. But officials had granted permission to the DMK and BJP agents earlier itself," Balamurugan added.
Speaking to TNIE, Collector Narnaware said, "No malfunction occurred in the operation of the surveillance cameras. There was a technical issue with the timer. Due to this, it displayed the time incorrectly. However, that technical issue was resolved immediately. Even if the TV monitor turns off, we have a backup of the surveillance camera recordings. I also visited the counting centre and security arrangements. Other officials are also continuously conducting inspections. There are no flaws in security."
The EVMs and VVPATs for 2,822 polling stations in Tiruppur district are stored in the strong rooms at the college. A two-tier armed security protection and CCTV coverage have been provided here.