EC rejects Mamata’s malpractice charge, says no scope for wrongdoing at count centres

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spent hours at the counting centre for her Bhabanipur constituency alleging possibilities of malpractices, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday asserted there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres.

Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strong rooms was in place, he termed the allegations baseless.

TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a strict vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strong rooms, upon directions of party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made," CEO Manoj Agarwal told reporters.

"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that the complaints are baseless.

A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strong rooms.

"Additional CAPFs and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, told reporters after visiting the area.

Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Ghosh said the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.

Minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning after holding a sit-in at the counting centre on Thursday evening, maintained that there must be "transparency".

Banerjee, after spending nearly four hours at an EVM strong room in Bhabanipur till the early hours of Friday, warned against any attempt to tamper with the counting process, alleging possible malpractices.

Sounding a stern note ahead of the May 4 counting, she said that any plan to tamper with the counting process will not be tolerated.

Banerjee had gone to 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.

TMC candidates Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja had on Thursday evening staged a sit-in outside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in central Kolkata, alleging electoral malpractice and tampering of voting machines.

The TMC leaders alleged that live-streamed footage from CCTV cameras revealed the presence of outsiders inside the strong rooms who were "fiddling with ballot papers" from the machines.

The Election Commission, however, dismissed the claim regarding the handling of polled materials at the centre, stating that poll officials were engaged in the task of segregating postal ballots as per due process and the strong rooms remained secure.

Ghosh told reporters on Friday that though they had seen some movement in a strong room that allegedly stored postal ballots, there was no such movement on Friday morning.

Security forces were keeping a strict vigil in and around counting centres in Kolkata and other districts where EVM machines used in the West Bengal assembly elections are stored, an official said here.

Sakhawat Memorial School in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur, which saw high drama till the early hours of Friday with the chief minister spending several hours at the counting centre, wore a peaceful look in the morning with security personnel guarding the area.