Late night drama outside Kolkata strongroom: Mamata alleges EVM tampering, EC says scrutiny on

High drama unfolded outside an election strongroom at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata late on Thursday night, with TMC leaders staging a protest over alleged attempts to “illegally open the ballot boxes”.

Sharing a purported CCTV footage on X, the TMC said that the BJP and the Election Commission stand “exposed” as ballot boxes were allegedly being opened in the absence of  relevant party stakeholders.

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The ruling party in Bengal further alleged that “gross electoral fraud is being committed openly with the full knowledge and protection of the Election Commission.”

Senior TMC leaders Shashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh sat on a ‘dharna’ outside the venue, demanding transparency.

Security forces were deployed at the entrance of the strong room as the situation grew increasingly tense.

Panja questioned the alleged activity inside the strong room and said that procedures were not being properly followed.

“We or any of our party representatives had not been informed about who was present inside. One simply cannot walk into the strong room. Something fishy is going on. These are serious loopholes,” Panja said.

Ghosh echoed similar concerns, pointing to live-streaming footage and CCTV visuals which, he claimed, showed individuals working inside the strong room without any TMC representatives present.

He alleged that party members were being denied entry and were instead being told to coordinate with other candidates.

“This is very suspicious. They (the ECI) asked our party representatives to leave. They were there till 3.30 pm. Then at 4 pm they (the ECI) sent a mail saying the strong room will be opened. We asked our representatives if they were still there. They in turn informed us that they had left. Both me and Panja then rushed there. If they have sent us the email then why are we now being barred from entering the strong room,” Ghosh said.

‘They plan to swap EVMs’: Mamata urges TMC workers to stay put at counting tables

Amid TMC’s allegations, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee issued a video statement alleging that the BJP is planning to swap EVMs.

The Bengal CM urged party workers to not leave the counting tables until she addresses a press conference and declare the outcome.

“They plan to swap EVMs …. till the time I hold a press conference and declare, do not leave counting tables … they might change data in computers, giving our numbers to BJP and BJP’s to us, I myself will go to the counting hall, I can do that as a candidate. You have gone through so much. Please bear slightly more to save Bengal,” Mamata said in the video shared on X.

Election Commission responds to TMC allegations, report to be submitted tomorrow

Responding to TMC’s allegations of EVM tampering, Subrata Gupta, Special Electoral Poll Observer in Bengal Elections, said that the charges levelled by the ruling party have been taken into consideration and a scrutiny is underway.

He further added that a report will be submitted to the Election Commission on Friday morning.

As the row intensified, an EC official clarified that segregation of ballot boxes was taking olace and Returning Officers were informed about this.

“⁠There is another strong room in the same premise for Postal ballot wherein we have kept 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,” news agency ANI quoted an EC official as saying.

The counting of votes for the Bengal Assembly elections is set to take place on May 4. At least six of the eight prominent exit polls have given a clear edge to the BJP  while two have predicted that Mamata Banerjee-led TMC may secure landslide victory.