1 hour ago
3
ARTICLE AD BOX
KOLKATA: Ahead of the May 4 counting of votes for the assembly elections, cardinal rivals Trinamool and BJP successful Bengal sparred and flagged incidents of ‘lax information and blacked-out CCTV footage’ astatine EVM strongrooms connected Saturday.Tension flared astatine Barasat Govt College successful North 24 Parganas territory connected Saturday aft the CCTV monitoring show reportedly went acheronian for 17 minutes. Suspecting deliberate tampering, TMC workers and candidates staged a protest. EC officials rushed to the spot, aft which the show started functioning.According to the complaint, CCTV monitors astatine the strongroom, wherever EVMs from the Barasat, Habra, Ashoknagar, and Deganga constituencies are stored, went wholly blank betwixt 8:05 americium and 8:22 am.
Trinamool demanded that the afloat footage of the play beryllium made disposable and that strict enactment beryllium taken against whoever turned disconnected the monitor.TMC Ashoknagar campaigner Narayan Goswami said: “The ARO showed maine footage sent to the magistrate wherever the cameras were operational. But if idiosyncratic switched disconnected the TV, EC should person taken contiguous action. We request to cognize what happened.”Additional returning serviceman Abhijit Das said: “We received accusation that the provender was not visible.
By 8:20am, the SDO had arrived. It was recovered that the outer show had been powered off. Once switched on, the provender resumed... It appears the power was turned disconnected from the outside. An probe is underway.”Meanwhile, BJP flagged 2 specified incidents: 1 successful Salt Lake and different successful Burdwan.BJP’s Bidhannagar campaigner Sharadwat Mukherjee said the strongroom astatine Bidhannagar was expected to beryllium opened connected Saturday.
He alleged it was really opened aggregate times connected Friday without authoritative notification. He contacted the returning officer.CPM campaigner Soumyajit Raha said a ailment had besides been lodged with EC.BJP’s Amit Malviya alleged connected X: “At UIT, an effort was made by a TMC goon to standard the compound walls and summation entree to a strongroom lodging EVMs. The incidental was flagged by BJP campaigner Sanjay Das, raising superior concerns astir the intent down specified actions.
This is nary mean facility; it contains EVMs from 5 important constituencies — Bardhaman Uttar, Bardhaman Dakshin, Galsi, Ausgram, and Bhatar.”In Kolkata, Trinamool’s Shyampukur campaigner Shashi Panja visited the strongroom astatine Netaji Indoor Stadium connected Saturday, where, she said, the guards initially stopped her, saying those already wrong indispensable exit first. She said she was lone allowed to participate aft clarification from the police. She besides flagged the deficiency of CCTVs successful the strongroom, claiming officials told her that cameras would beryllium installed “shortly”.“When the postal ballot trunks of 7 constituencies arrived, determination was nary typical of immoderate governmental enactment here,” she said.
