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EC rebuttal, Mamata's warning, tampering row: What is happening in Bengal ahead of results day
Mamata Banerjee on Thursday evening had reached the Bhabanipur Assembly segment counting centre, which houses the strong room for EVMs.
Thursday night saw high drama in West Bengal after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleged ballot tampering in Kolkata, just hours after party supremo Mamata Banerjee called on workers to “stay up all night and guard the EVM strongrooms”.
Mamata Banerjee, who is the sitting chief minister of the state, personally came down to various strong rooms after TMC candidates Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja did a dharna after alleging that the strong rooms were being opened by the poll body with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), without the presence of “relevant stakeholders”. The West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal countered Banerjee by citing the rulebook.
Kunal Ghosh called the incident "a mistake of EC" and said that it was decided to tighten security outside the strong room, with no one breaking the seal or entering without officially informing.
"What happened today is a mistake of the EC. It was decided that after today, nobody will break open the seal of the strong room and go inside without informing officially. This was the first decision. What happened today was wrong. More CCTV cameras are needed there, they have agreed. It should reflect on the screen. We have told them about our observations. The dharna has been called off...Our team will monitor everything. This is our right, and we will do everything legally. We do not intend to do anything illegally," Ghosh told media persons.
"We opposed it when they were doing something illegal. We have one question: they have broken open the seal of the strong room without intimating, and we were opposing it. Why is the BJP so troubled? This means that had malicious intentions," he added.
Mamata Banerjee on Thursday evening had reached the Bhabanipur Assembly segment counting centre, which houses the strong room for EVMs used in the April 29 polling, citing suspicion of tampering with the machines. She entered the premises along with her election agent and remained inside for hours
The EC rebuttal
Addressing a press conference, West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said that Mamata Banerjee cannot access any of the strong rooms outside her own constituency.
"The CM, who is a candidate for Bhabanipur, is not a candidate from any of the seven seats from Kolkata North. She cannot go there," he said.
Apart from the CEO, Election Commission officials rejected the TMC allegations and said the main strong rooms are safely secured and locked, and that ballot segregation was taking place in the strong rooms' corridors from 4 pm.
"With reference to the video being circulated on social media handles: there are 7 AC strong rooms inside the Kgudiram Anushilan Kendra; they all have been duly closed and sealed in the presence of Candidates/Election agents and General Observer after completion of the poll yesterday. Last Strong room was closed in the morning around 5.15 am," an Election Commission official quoted by PTI said.
"All strong rooms containing polled EVMs are safely secured and sealed. There is another strong room in the same premises for the postal ballot wherein we have kept AC wise polled ballots as done by different polling personnel and ETBPS (Electronic Transmitted Postal Ballot System)," the official added.
Officials said that the poll panel had notified all observers, ROs and requested ROs to inform their candidates and agents about this.
Mamata’s warning
Early on Friday, Mamata Banerjee warned against any attempt to tamper with the counting process, hours after she visited an EVM strong room in Bhabanipur, alleging possible malpractice. She said only one person would be allowed inside the designated counting area.
"Either the candidate or one agent can stay upstairs. I have also suggested installation of a CCTV camera for the media," she told reporters.
Stressing the need for transparency, she said, "It is essential to maintain transparency. People's votes must be protected. I rushed here after receiving complaints. The central forces initially did not allow me to enter."
Sounding a stern note ahead of the May 4 counting, she added, "If there is any plan to tamper with the counting process, it will not be tolerated."
BJP attacks Mamata, TMC
BJP candidate for the Maniktala constituency, Tapas Roy, accused the TMC of creating a "false narrative." He said he arrived near the strong room after receiving news of the TMC's dharna. Countering the TMC's allegation that the BJP created a ruckus amid a peaceful protest, Roy said that the TMC workers “sloganeered and verbally abused us.”
"This was the strong room. We heard in the news that a leader is coming here, and two TMC candidates are sitting on a dharna here. They had gone in and given a byte. This had never happened before. Hearing this, candidate Santosh Pathak and I came here. We were then joined by Purnima Chakraborty, Vijay Ojha and Ritesh Tiwari. One needs to prepare before their defeat. They said something is happening inside. I heard that the DEO (District Election Officer) took them in and showed them everything. So, there was chaos here. When we reached here, TMC workers sloganeered and verbally abused us," he said.
"We told the Kolkata Police officials that such things had never happened before at the strong room...They (TMC) are preparing a false narrative and lying to the common people. This is wrong. We have spoken to the DEO. Everything is alright. We spoke with the DEO, other officers, and police officers about why they allowed a particular political party here. They should not have...We will also speak with the Commissioner," he added.
State BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the TMC has conceded its defeat.
"TMC has admitted defeat before their defeat. Mamata Banerjee knows TMC's situation. The government is going out of power, but with this, the party will also finish off within a few months. So, this is the flickering of the flame before it is extinguished. How long will the people of West Bengal see this drama? This will have no impact," he said.
"Shashi Panja has lost the polls. Kunal Ghosh is a journalist, and he, too, knows what the result will be," he added.
