Kolkata, Trinamool Congress candidates staged a protest on Thursday evening against alleged suspicious activities at the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in south Kolkata, which led to a tense situation. Later in the night, the Election Commission outrightly rejected all allegations during a press conference.

Trinamool candidates Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja staged a dharna outside the center, which was later joined by Vijayvargiya. They alleged that suspicious activities were taking place inside the strong room. They claimed that the live streaming feed showed activities inside, particularly alleging that ballot papers were being moved around, although authorities assured that nothing was happening inside the enclosure.

The situation escalated when BJP candidates Taps Roy and Santosh Pathak also reached the spot. They spoke to Election Commission officials and later left. Late at night, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal held a press conference to clarify that the strong room was completely sealed and secure.

CEO Agarwal explained that electronic voting machines (EVMs) from several polling stations had been stored in the facility, and on Thursday, the Assistant Returning Officer was busy segregating postal ballots. The candidates had been informed about this process in advance. Manoj Agarwal said that the tampering allegations were based solely on video footage of the postal ballot segregation process, and he emphasized that these allegations were completely false and baseless. He reiterated that the strong room was 100 percent secure. He further alleged that an attempt was being made to deliberately vitiate the atmosphere.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee also visited the strong room at the Sakhawat Memorial School in the evening. In response, the CEO said that any candidate had the right to visit the enclosure, and the commission had no objection to such visits.