LS polls: Live stream of strong room in Villupuram down for 30 minutes, third incident in six days
Officials said that live streaming of the strong room in Villupuram had been disturbed for nearly 30 minutes from 9.28 am on Friday due to power fluctuation.
CCTV camera in strongroom (Photo: Thanthi TV)
CHENNAI: Surveillance mechanism that was in place for the strongroom in Arignar Anna Government Arts College in Villupuram was down for nearly 30 minutes on Friday.
It was the third such incident reported in the state in the last six days and it created a flutter for a while.
Officials said that live streaming of the strong room in Villupuram had been disturbed for nearly 30 minutes from 9.28 am on Friday due to power fluctuation.
The erratic power supply blew the fuse of the UPS (uninterrupted Power Supply) connected to the live streaming of the CCTV cameras that focused at the sealed doors of the strong rooms. Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS) and Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) have been stored till the counting days on June 4.
On information, Collector C Palani rushed to the counting centre and took measures. The officials from TANGEDCO have also rushed to the spot and checked the power supply to the counting centre.
The livestreaming was restored by 9.58 am. The Collector instructed the TANGEDCO officials to ensure uninterrupted and reliable power supply to the centre.
The Collector also took the agents of candidates in the fray to the strongroom to ensure everything was in place and rule out any suspicion.
"The officials have installed an additional live-streaming to the existing one to avoid such problems, " said VCK candidate D Ravikumar, who petitioned the district collector to take appropriate measures to avoid such incidents till the counting day in June. While AIADMK fielded J Bhagyaraj, BJP-led ally PMK fielded S Murali Sankar in the constituency.
Ravikumar also cited the Election Communication of India's communication on Standard Operating Procedure on security arrangements for the counting centres.
"There is a specific direction to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the counting centres during the EVM storage period. The Collector should ensure that, "he said.
Similar incidents were reported in the counting centres for Nilgiris constituency in Government Polytechnic college in Udhagamandalam on April 27.
Two days later, on April 29, the surveillance mechanism in the counting centre of Erode Constituency malfunctioned. In both the incidents, the District Electoral Officers cited power fluctuation as the reason and assured that they would take necessary measures.
Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu Satyabrata Sahoo directed the DEOs to take precautionary measures in all the 39 counting centres to guarantee reliable power supply to the respective counting centres to avoid short-circuit.