West Bengal assembly election | CEO dismisses CM Mamata Banerjee's 'baseless' claims of wrongdoing at strongrooms

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the allegations by the CM are "baseless" and that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place.

West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal has stated that there is no scope for wrongdoing at the strongrooms, rejecting the claims made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a day earlier.

Agarwal said that the allegations by the CM are "baseless" and that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strongrooms was in place.

Tensions arose at two counting centres in Kolkata late on Thursday, causing police to clamp prohibitory orders on gatherings outside all seven strongrooms in the city. TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.

"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made to secure the EVMs. The Centres have been kept under thorough CCTV coverage and their live-streamed footage can be seen from outside," Agarwal told reporters.

"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that there were no grounds for levelling charges of EVM tampering or pre-counting malpractice.

When asked about the allegations today, Agarwal said - "Anyone can level any allegations. Where did tampering take place? CAPF is deployed there. Everything is sealed there. Three-layer security is in place. So, how can tampering take place?"

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 strongrooms on the CM's directions.

Ghosh along with Bengal's commerce minister Shashi Panja organised a sit-in protest at the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra last night and CM Banerjee herself reached the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre and left four hours later past midnight. She also warned against any attempts to tamper with the counting process, demanding greater transparency.

The sit-in prompted BJP members to gather outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra where they shouted slogans and argued that the protest is "unconstitutional."

On Friday, Kolkata Police imposed prohibitory orders around all seven designated strong rooms in the city that will remain in force until the commencement of counting on May 4.

Besides the two counting centres in question, the prohibitory orders were also clamped around the Hastings House complex, APC Polytechnic College, St. Thomas Boys' High School, Ballygunge Government High School and the David Hare Training College counting premises.

Panja reached the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning as well and maintained that "transparency" should be ensured for all strongroom activities.

(With PTI inputs)