The electronic voting machines (EVMs) from five Lok Sabha constituencies in and around Calcutta have been kept in 15 strongrooms guarded by multiple layers of security by Kolkata Police or Bengal police and the central security forces.
Fourteen of them are located in the Kolkata Police area and one is in Barasat.
All are sealed and under CCTV surveillance.
The four constituencies from where the EVMs have been brought to the 15 strongrooms are Kolkata North, Kolkata South, Jadavpur and Diamond Harbour.
The EVMs from the Barasat Lok Sabha constituency have been kept in a strongroom in Barasat Government College.
The 15 strongrooms in and around Calcutta are located on the following premises. Some of the premises have multiple strongrooms.
1. Khudiram Anulishan Kendra, BBD Bag area
2. Hastings House, Alipore
3. Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College, Jadavpur
4. Gitanjali Stadium, Kasba
5. Vivekananda College, Thakurpukur
6. Bratachari Vidyasram, Joka
7. St Thomas’ Boys’ School, Kidderpore
8. Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls High School, Lord Sinha Road
9. Ballygunge Government High School, Ballygunge
10. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University, Ballygunge Circular Road
11. Barasat Government College
Security arrangements
Meeraj Khalid, joint commissioner (headquarters), Kolkata Police, said the security arrangements of the strongrooms have been made in compliance with the Election Commission of India’s order. The inner perimeter is being guarded by the central armed police forces and the external perimeter by the state armed police.
The arrangements are the same at Barasat Government College, too.
Deployment
- The first tier of the security ring will start from a 100-metre periphery around the counting premises, which should be demarcated as a “pedestrian zone”. No vehicles will be allowed within this perimeter.
- The external perimeter of the strongrooms, which include the parking area outside the venue and the gates of the premises, are being manned by Kolkata Police or Bengal police.
- The security of the area between the main gate of the compound and the strongroom is also the responsibility of Kolkata Police or Bengal police.
- Before being allowed entry into the second cordon, he or she is frisked by the police to ensure prohibited items such as matchbox, arms or flammable articles are not carried inside.
- The rooms where the EVMs have been kept are under lock and key and being guarded by armed central forces.
- Mobile phones are prohibited inside the strongrooms.
- The strongrooms are under 24X7 CCTV surveillance. “The CCTV camera feed is being monitored round-the-clock to ensure there is no unauthorised entry,” said an election official.
The counting of votes will start at 8am on Tuesday. The strongrooms will be opened only at that time.