Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, on Friday said his rival in the Bhabanipur Assembly seat and chief minister Mamata Banerjee couldn’t “resort to any dishonest means” during her late-night visit to the EVM strongroom at Sakhawat Memorial Govt Girls’ High School, where voting machines from the constituency are being stored.
Mamata’s nearly four-hour stay at the facility, which ended at 12.07am, triggered a fresh round of allegations and counter-allegations between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
The chief minister, who alleged possible attempts at tampering, said she had rushed to the strongroom after reviewing CCTV footage and receiving reports of irregularities from different parts of the state.
Adhikari dismissed the allegations and asserted that no irregularities were allowed under strict monitoring.
Sharing a photograph of Mamata on the premises of the strongroom, he wrote on X: “I would like to assure the voters of Bhabanipur constituency and the entire West Bengal that the Trinamool Congress candidate from this constituency and the outgoing Chief Minister has been forced to refrain from taking any additional benefits. No matter how hard she tried, she could not do any illegal act.”
He added: “As long as she was present in the strong room premises, my election agent Advocate Surjanil Das was present and kept her under strict surveillance so that she could not resort to any dishonest means.”
The BJP leader’s remarks sought to project the chief minister’s visit not as a vigilance measure but as an attempt that was closely monitored and neutralised. He also maintained that EVMs and strongrooms in Bhabanipur were under stringent security cover, dismissing fears of ballot manipulation.
Mamata, however, doubled down on her allegations, claiming that “reports of irregularities related to electronic voting machines have surfaced from several parts of the state,” and warned against any attempt to compromise the electoral process.
Her visit to the strongroom was positioned by the Trinamool Congress as a precautionary step to safeguard the integrity of the electoral mandate.
The developments came amid heightened tension outside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in Calcutta, where Trinamool leaders, including Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja, staged protests on Thursday, alleging suspicious activity inside the facility. They claimed that CCTV footage showed outsiders entering the premises and “fiddling with ballot papers,” allegations that have further deepened the trust deficit between the ruling party and the Opposition.
Votes in all 294 Assembly constituencies in Bengal will be counted on Monday.
