The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday deployed additional security forces to strengthen protection outside strongrooms in West Bengal after the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed over allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering and compromised security late on Thursday night.
Officials aware of the matter said that additional forces have been added to the three-layer security outside strongrooms, comprising state police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
“Triple-layer security has been deployed at all counting centres with specialised patrols in vulnerable zones. Only authorised personnel with QR-coded IDs would be permitted to enter the counting centres. There would be real-time oversight from ECI and CEO offices to trigger immediate response to any untoward incident. Any unlawful activities are to be reported urgently, with strict action to be taken against any involved individual. No attempt to disrupt the peace will go unpunished,” an EC official said.
Of the 294 Assembly seats in the state, 152 constituencies went to polls in the first phase on April 23, while elections to the remaining 142 seats were held on April 29. The results will be announced on May 4. In all, there are 77 counting centres across the state.
Both the TMC and BJP alleged EVM tampering during the second phase of polling.
The TMC alleged that unidentified persons were seen inside a strongroom at Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra in central Kolkata on Thursday night. TMC leaders staged a sit-in protest outside the strongroom where EVMs from seven Assembly constituencies in North Kolkata and postal ballots were kept. BJP leaders also rushed to the spot, leading to a heated altercation.
TMC chief Mamata Banerjee also went to the strongroom at Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ High School in south Kolkata, where the EVMs of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency were kept. She sat there for around four hours from 9 pm on Thursday night.
The BJP too alleged that the TMC was behind the tampering. “In several polling booths, the option to vote for the BJP has been blocked using a tape, effectively preventing voters from exercising their choice. This is the so-called ‘Diamond Harbour Model,’ the same template that helped Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee secure his Lok Sabha seat. We demand an immediate repoll in all affected booths in Falta where such incidents have occurred. Booth 189 is also compromised in a similar manner along with several others,” Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, wrote on X on April 29.
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal had initially refuted the allegations during a press conference held late on Thursday night, saying that EVMs were safe and secure.
On Friday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered repolling on May 2 in 15 polling stations across two Assembly constituencies in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district.
Leaders of both the TMC and the BJP once again visited the strongrooms on Friday to check the security arrangements and live feeds on the screens. While TMC leaders Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja visited Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari visited the strongroom at Sakhawat Memorial School.
“Security has been further strengthened outside the strongrooms. Additional forces have been deployed. Only authorised personnel, including political candidates and their representatives, were being allowed up to a certain area where screens were set up, which aired live feeds from inside the strongroom,” said a senior poll panel official.
Meanwhile, allegations of post-poll violence were reported from some pockets, including Falta in South 24 Parganas and Ratua in Malda.
At Ratua, a BJP booth president, Mahananda Mondol, was attacked allegedly by TMC supporters. The TMC, however, brushed aside the allegations, saying that the party was not involved and that the attack on Monday was the result of personal enmity.
At Falta, villagers blocked National Highway 117 for some time over allegations of BJP workers being threatened by the TMC. The latter refuted the charges.
