EC Says EVMs are Secure in Strongrooms, Rejects TMC’s Claims

In an apparent reference to the video posted by Trinamool Congress on its X handle, the officials said that all strong rooms containing polled EVMs are safely secured and sealed. They noted that there was routine segregation of postal ballots.

Referring to a video being circulated on social media, the EC said there are seven AC strong rooms inside the Kgudiram Anushilan Kendra and all have been duly closed and sealed in the presence of candidates and election agents and General Observer after completion of poll yesterday.

The last strong room was closed in the morning around 5.15am, an Election Commission official said. There is another strong room in the same premise for postal ballot wherein officials 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.

“ROs informed the political parties by mail. The segregation of the ballot was taking place in the corridor of strong rooms containing polled premise from 4pm. The main strong rooms are safely secured and locked. The same was duly shown to Shashi Panja, Kunal Ghosh and Kali from BJP,” the official said.

The controversy erupted after the TMC alleged that the BJP “in active collusion” with the Election Commission “is opening ballot boxes without the presence of any relevant party stakeholders” and said “this is the murder of democracy in broad daylight.”