E-Paper
Alarm after CCTV camera spots movement in Assam’s EVM strong room. It was just a spider
The alert caused tension among the contesting candidates. Some of them started protesting outside the centre where the EVMs were kept.
An unwanted movement inside the strong room in Cachar district of Assam, where the polled EVMs were being kept under CCTV surveillance, led to chaos on Monday morning. The monitoring camera’s sensor suddenly showed a human-like figure and issued an alert suggesting a movement inside the strong room of Sonai constituency.
“In the footage, a cobweb strand is visible moving from one side of the frame to the other. It is possible that the sensors sensed that movement and flashed an alert on the monitor,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner, Cachar, Sumit Sattavan, after inspection. He confirmed that it was a spider. The incident took place at around 10.25 am but led to day-long chaos.
The alert caused tension among the contesting candidates. Some of them, along with their agents, rushed to the spot and started protesting outside the NETRiP centre where the EVMs of 7 constituencies of Cachar district were kept.
Except for the BJP, almost all the political parties have appointed their members in front of the strong rooms where monitors show 24-hour recordings of the rooms. A Congress agent suddenly noticed a human-like symbol popping up in one of the recordings and immediately informed his party leaders.
Finally, a group of officials from the district administration visited the place and they showed the recordings to all the candidates and agents present. It was found that a spider was moving near the sensor of the camera which caused the alert.
Congress candidates Mukesh Pandey and Kamakhya Prasad Mala, along with AK Azad Laskar - election agent of AIUDF candidate Karim Uddin Barbhuiya - and some members of the Congress were present when the footage was shown. As per the request, the footage was extracted and played on large screens at the centre.
“We are concerned about the safety of the EVMs after few incidents took place post-election in Barak Valley. But the administration cooperated with our request and gave us a chance to review the footage. We saw the footage and whatever we could gather, it did not look like a human movement. However, we are yet to get the full footage and will be assured only after a thorough inspection,” Laskar said.
Congress and AIUDF members gathered in front of the election monitoring centre after the incident took place while some of them started protesting. Though the NATRiP and nearby area is heavily guarded by central paramilitary forces and have a strong presence of Assam Police, a team of Cachar police led by Additional Superintendent of Police, Jagadish Das, rushed to the spot. They managed to convince the people and requested them to go back.
