Mamata Banerjee visits strongroom, protests spark tense EVM night
Trinamool alleges boxes opened without authorised representatives present
West Bengal woke up Friday to the echo of a tense night in Kolkata, where the eve of vote counting turned into a political theatre of suspicion, surveillance, and last‑minute standoffs. With just two days to go before the results of the high‑stakes Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) threw the spotlight on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot boxes, alleging irregularities and staging a late‑night sit‑in protest that stretched into the early hours of the morning. At the center of it all stood Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, spending nearly four hours inside a strongroom in Bhabanipur, then emerging just past midnight with a defiant vow that nobody would be allowed to tamper with the people’s verdict.
A midnight vigil at Bhabanipur
The drama unfolded at the Sakhawat Memorial School in Kolkata, the counting centre for the crucial Bhabanipur Assembly segment. Claiming that ballot boxes had been opened in the absence of authorised TMC representatives shortly after the second and final phase of polling ended, Banerjee rushed to the venue with her election agent, insisting on immediate clarification. For almost four hours, she stayed inside the EVM strongroom, surrounded by stacks of sealed boxes, polling agents, and security personnel. The scene was part courtroom, part war room: a sitting chief minister playing the role of a last‑minute watchdog, determined to prove that she would not be kept in the dark.
When she finally walked out at around 12:07 am, Banerjee’s tone was anything but calm. “People’s votes must be protected,” she said, her voice a mix of urgency and warning. “I rushed here after receiving complaints. If there is any plan to tamper with the counting process, it will not be tolerated.” Those words did more than allege foul play; they fed into the broader narrative of mistrust that has hovered over the state’s election season, giving every TMC supporter a sense of vigilance and every opponent another rallying point.
While Banerjee was inside the strongroom, the TMC turned the space outside into a makeshift stage. Party workers staged a sit‑in protest, refusing to move and demanding that every step of the counting process be transparent. Other TMC leaders, including Kolkata Mayor and party candidate from the Kolkata Port seat Firhad Hakim, also arrived at the scene, adding to the sense of a party mobilising in real time. Yet, even from within the counting centre, Banerjee remained insulated; Hakim was not allowed to meet her, underscoring the strict protocols that separate candidates, agents, and bags of ballots on the eve of counting.
For ordinary voters watching the live feeds and social‑media clips, the image was stark: a chief minister, already in the thick of a high‑stakes re‑election battle, insisting on being present while machines slumbered under seals. To supporters, it looked like a leader refusing to be pushed aside. To critics, it looked like a calculated show of force, designed to keep the spotlight on alleged irregularities and to raise questions in the public mind before the ballots were even opened.
BJP’s counter‑narrative: “surveillance” and reassurance
Not surprisingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to respond—to deny, to ridicule, and to reframe the night’s drama. Suvendu Adhikari, the high‑profile BJP leader contesting against Banerjee in Bhabanipur, released a video on X showing his election agent, Advocate Suryanil Das, posted inside the EVM strongroom for hours.
He continued, “As long as she was present in the strong‑room premises, my election agent was personally there keeping her under strict surveillance so that she could not resort to any dishonest means.” In that single statement, Adhikari blended concern, control, and a hint of condescension: casting Banerjee as someone who needed to be watched closely, while positioning his own side as the vigilant guardians of the process.
For the BJP, the night was less about alleged tampering and more about messaging: the image of a vigilant election agent, the claim that every TMC move was under scrutiny, and the assertion that the counting process would remain fair. For the TMC, the night was a performance of distrust turned into political capital: the image of a chief minister, willing to sit in a sealed room for hours, “for the people’s votes.”
Before the counting begins
By the time dawn arrived, the strongroom remained officially untouched, the EVMs still sealed, and the state still waiting for the EC‑certified start of counting. Yet the late‑night drama in Bhabanipur had already done its work: it sharpened fault lines, hardened suspicions, and added one more layer of tension to an election whose outcome is expected to hinge on a handful of seats.
Whether the allegations of tampering will be substantiated or dismissed, one thing is clear: in the tense hours before ballots are counted, every movement, every camera angle, and every video clip becomes a weapon in the larger battle for public perception. And in West Bengal, that battle is as much about who counts the votes as about who is seen to be watching them.