Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Friday said that there is no scope for wrongdoing at the counting centres where round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of strong rooms was in place, his assertion coming a day after the Trinamool alleged suspicious activity at a counting centre in Kolkata and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a public appeal to guard the strong rooms.
TMC spokesperson and Beleghata constituency candidate Kunal Ghosh said that party workers and poll aspirants were keeping a vigil at the counting centres, where the EVMs are stored in strong rooms, as per the direction of their party supremo.
"There is no scope for any wrongdoing given the arrangements made," CEO Manoj Agarwal told reporters.
Stating that round-the-clock CCTV monitoring of the strong rooms is underway, he said people can watch the monitors from outside.
"One should have reason and evidence for making allegations," he said, maintaining that the complaints are baseless.
A senior police officer said enhanced security arrangements have been made at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra, the counting centre for several assembly seats in north and east Kolkata housing EVM strongrooms.
"Additional CAPFs [central armed police forces] and armed police forces have also been deployed under the supervision of an additional commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police," joint commissioner of police (traffic), Kolkata, Rupesh Kumar, said after visiting the area.
He said identity cards have been issued to view CCTV monitors.
Expressing apprehension that unauthorised movements might occur when a section of postal ballots is brought in the evening, Ghosh said the party's polling agents and candidates have been alerted about the matter.
Bengal minister Shashi Panja, who also arrived at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in the morning after spending hours there on Thursday evening, maintained that there must be "transparency".





