HOWRAH: The election commission on Tuesday suspended three poll officials and a policeman and removed three home guards after three EVMs and four VVPATs were recovered from the home of a Trinamool Congress functionary in Uluberia North in Howrah, hours before it went to the polls.
Local residents raised the alarm after they spotted the EVMs and VVPATs being carried into the house of Gautam Ghosh in Tulsiberia around 2.30am. They gheraoed the place and launched an agitation. The local cops rushed to the spot and had to launch a lathi-charge to disperse the mob.
Suspended sector officer Tapan Sarkar has said, in his defence, that an assistant sector officer, who is a relative of Ghosh, had suggested they go to his place to sleep for the night after central forces did not open the booth, which they reached late at night. He claimed he did not know about Ghosh’s Trinamool connections. The BJP has claimed an ulterior motive.
BJP North Uluberia candidate Chiran Bera said he rushed to the spot after getting the news. “Residents told me a car reached Tulsiberia village around 2.30am. Its occupants then alighted from it and carried voting machines into the house. When I reached, I found EVMs and VVPATs at the house of Ghosh, who is with the TMC. I have lodged a complaint with the EC. It is a serious offence and an attempt to tamper the EVMs,” he alleged.
Deputy election commissioner instantly sought a report. The official — along with two assistant sector officers and a police sub-inspector — were suspended and the three on-duty home guards removed following feedback he received.
Trinamool’s Uluberia North candidate Nirmal Maji said he was not aware why the polling officials had opted to stay the night at Ghosh’s residence with EVMs. “This should not have happened. It is unethical,” he said.