Kamal Ghorui
TMC alleged EVM tampering | Screen grab from video shared by @AITCofficial
NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleged an “electoral fraud” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission, claiming tampering of ballots ahead of the May 4 counting for the West Bengal assembly elections.The party shared CCTV footage purportedly showing the interior of a room with ballots, the authenticity of which has not been independently verified by The Times of India.According to the TMC, the video shows individuals opening ballot units in the absence of authorised officials, an act it claims violates established electoral protocols and undermines the democratic process. The EC, however, responding to the video footage, issued a clarification listing out the measures being taken to ensure fair vote counting.TMC in the post also shared about the protest being led by its leaders, Shashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh, at Netaji Indoor Stadium, further stating that the Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is expected to arrive too.Sharing the video on X, they wrote, “Alarming! This is the murder of democracy in broad daylight. CCTV footage has exposed how BJP, in active collusion with the EC, is opening ballot boxes without the presence of any relevant party stakeholders. This is gross electoral fraud being committed openly with the full knowledge and protection of the Election Commission.”It further alleged, “They have tried every dirty trick, name deletion, voter intimidation, Central Force terror, cash flooding, and failed miserably. Now, in sheer desperation, they have stooped to tampering with EVMs. But Bengal is not Maharashtra, Delhi, or Bihar. We will not sit silently and watch them loot our democracy.”The official handle of the Trinamool Congress further updated upon the protest by the party leaders, saying, “Our leaders Shashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh have already begun a dharna outside Netaji Indoor Stadium. Mamata Banerjee will personally visit the spot and take stock of the situation. The people of Bengal are watching this daylight robbery. We will not allow the Delhi Zamindars and their puppet Election Commission to steal the mandate of the people.“The Election Commission took account of the situation and released a detailed statement.It said that a total of 7 assembly constituency strong rooms have been set inside the Kgudiram Anushilan Kendra, which are duly closed and sealed. It ensured that the closure was also done in the presence of election agents after the completion of polls on Thursday.In its statement, the election authority said, “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 the candidates/election agents and general observer after the completion of polls yesterday. Last Strong room was closed in the morning around 5.15am.”It then clarified that a separate strong room in the same premises holds postal ballots, sorted by constituency by polling staff.“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 the AC-wise polled ballots as done by different polling personnel and ETBPS. We had notified all Observers, ROs and requested ROs to inform their candidates and agents about this. ROs informed the political parties by mail,” it said.According to EC’s statement, the segregation seen in the video was just the routine sorting of these postal ballot papers by the polling station in the corridor outside the strong rooms, starting from 4pm. The standard procedure for manual organisation of postal ballots before counting happened outside the sealed EVM areas, the EC said.“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 protest also follows the Bengal CM’s rejection of the exit poll projections which showed BJP leading the trends.
