Hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Urged her celebration to guard the EVM robust room.There was an uproar in Kolkata on Thursday evening when TMC candidates Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Pandya and employees staged a sit-in dharna at Khudiram Anushiran Kendra close to the Netaji Indoor Stadium alleging EVM tampering. BJP candidates additionally rushed to the spot.
In the meantime, Ms. Banerjee reached the EVM robust room of Sakhawat Memorial Women’ Excessive College in her constituency Bhavanipur at 8.15 pm and remained there until midnight. Each TMC and BJP employees gathered outdoors the varsity and heavy police presence was deployed.
Banerjee later mentioned: “I’ve requested that candidates and election officers be given correct services. I used to be right here for 4 hours. I used to be right here to observe. Our EVMs are right here. I noticed the EVMs being held on the Netaji Indoor Stadium. So I got here right here to verify. At first we had been stopped. However then the RO (returning officer) allowed us inside. I’ll be certain that no votes are captured by drive.” They may have introduced 1000’s right here, however they did not. ”
The EVM is sealed in a powerful room. On Could 4, the counting day, the EVMs shall be taken to the counting heart.
In a press release on
The celebration claimed that surveillance digital camera footage confirmed poll packing containers being opened with out official representatives of political events current.
Election officers rejected TMC’s prices of tampering with EVMs.
CEO Manoj Agarwal mentioned, “Nothing has been carried out from ECI’s statutory procedures. The allegations which have come are baseless. We’re looking for experiences after that. If anybody violates the authorized procedures, strict motion shall be taken.”
North Kolkata district election officer Smita Pandey mentioned, “All EVMs are fully sealed and closed in robust rooms. Their footage could be seen from the CCTV cameras put in. Khudiram Anushiran Kendra has seven ACs and one room is for postal voting. What occurred right now is segregation of postal voting.”
“Our Eros had been conducting the quarantine course of within the corridors of Khudiram Anushiram Kendra. We had already knowledgeable all political events that we had been going to conduct this course of from 4 pm. Subsequently, this declare shouldn’t be right. After the allegations, we went there with the protesting candidates and confirmed them that every part was following the EC’s SOPs and there was no violation of the robust room. The whole lot was being recorded,” Pandey mentioned.
This got here hours after the EC launched a QR-based ID system to strengthen safety at counting centres.
The Election Fee said in a press notice: “To eradicate the potential for unauthorized individuals coming into the counting centres, the Election Fee of India has launched a QR code-based photograph identification module in ECINET.”
“A 3-stage safety mechanism has been prescribed for identification on the counting heart. Within the first and second phases, the photograph identification issued by the RO (Returning Officer) is manually checked. On the third and innermost safety cordon close to the counting corridor, entry shall be allowed solely after profitable authentication via QR code scanning,” the EC mentioned.
“The brand new QR code-based photograph id card is relevant to the classes of individuals licensed by the ECI to enter counting facilities and halls. These embrace returning officers, assistant returning officers, counting employees, technical officers, candidates, election brokers, counting brokers, and so on.,” the EC mentioned.
– with Atri Mitra
