The State Election Commission Haryana and administration officials were in a spot of bother after the CCTV surveillance of the strong room at Government College, Sector 14, collapsed partially today morning, raising serious questions over the transparency of the election process.
Leaders of the Opposition parties, who gathered on the spot, alleged that the CCTV footage remained off from 9.21 am to 11.11 am in the strong room where EVMs had been stored. Congress mayoral candidate Sudha Bhardwaj, former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, INLD mayoral candidate Manoj Aggarwal and Independents demanded the reason for “deliberately switching off the CCTV cameras be made public and guilty officials punished.”
Raising questions over the functioning of the district administration, election observer and the Election Commission, the leaders and candidates demanded that an impartial investigation be conducted into the entire matter and the reasons for the cameras being switched off be made public. Seeing the matter escalate, election observers and administration officials reached the strong room site and tried to pacify candidates.
In a complaint to the State Election Commissioner, Haryana State Election Commission, Panchkula, INLD mayoral candidate Manoj Aggarwal, said, “The commission should order an immediate high-level inquiry into malfunctioning of the CCTV cameras and fix responsibility of officials concerned. Take strict legal and disciplinary action against those responsible if any foul play is confirmed.”
Meanwhile, the final voter turnout in the Panchkula Municipal Corporation elections was recorded at 110743 (53.4%). The counting of votes will begin at 8 am on May 13.
