For journalists covering the polling of the Presidential election in Parliament House on Thursday, it was a story of barriers and obstructions. Many of the scribes were not even allowed to enter the campus during the voting period.

Interestingly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi and Lok Sabha Secretary-General P D T Achary, who is also the Returning Officer for the election, feigned ignorance about any decision to bar journalists from Parliament House during the day.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee too reportedly said he had no knowledge of any such directive, leaving the scribes to wonder who had directed the security personnel to bar them.