KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fire that broke out at a government building in Kolkata’s Alipore area that destroyed around 4,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs), even as Minister of State for Fire and Emergency Services Kaushik Chowdhury raised questions about how the fire spread to the floors where the machines were stored.
“A four-member special investigation committee has been constituted to probe the incident in which a fire broke out in a government building in Kolkata’s Alipore area on Wednesday,” a senior police officer said.
“Initial investigations indicate that the fire started on the third or fourth floor. We wonder how it reached the eighth and ninth floors. The fifth, sixth and seventh floors in between were not damaged,” Chaudhry told reporters on Thursday.
The minister said that the fire destroyed about 4,000 electronic machines stored on the eighth and ninth floors. “Except for a few government offices, including one associated with mid-day meal in schools, about 4,000 electronic voting machines were destroyed. They were kept on the eighth and ninth floors. There were electronic machines from about 10 constituencies,” he said.
The fire broke out on Wednesday in the administrative building of South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad in Alipore. Zilla Parishad is administered by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and the district is considered a political stronghold of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.
Chaudhry visited the site on Thursday to assess the damage. Forensic officials were unable to enter the affected floors that day due to the extreme heat generated by the fire, officials said.
“Forensic officials have collected samples. It is too early to comment. The special investigation team was formed on Friday and the investigation is still at an early stage,” the police officer said.
According to fire department officials, the fire was reported around 9.50 am in the multi-storey building that houses several state government departments. Ten fire engines were dispatched to service to control the fire.
The TMC also questioned how electronic voting machines were destroyed despite legal efforts to preserve them.
“Mysteriously destroyed by fire! 4,000 polling units. 4,000 polling units. 4,000 VVPATs. Linked to Kasba, Jadavpur, East Behala, West Behala, Mityaboroz, Satgashiya and multiple constituencies under Diamond Harbor sub-division. @ECISVEEP cannot continue to hide behind planted narratives forever. Judicial intervention had previously sought preservation of electronic voting machines and footage Surveillance cameras, so how could such incidents happen? Was this just an accident… or a deliberate attempt to hide crucial evidence after tampering with democracy itself? The party said in a post on the X website on Friday.
Congress claimed that the incident raised “doubts”. “A fire broke out in a government building in West Bengal, where 4,000 electronic machines turned into ashes. These electronic voting machines were used in the recently held Assembly elections. This incident raises suspicions. The government and the Election Commission should clarify how the fire started and how it reached the ninth and tenth floors?” Congress wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) described what happened as “no ordinary incident” and posted on X: “The destruction of 4,000 electronic voting machines in a government building located in Alipore, Kolkata, is not an ordinary incident. The Assembly elections in Bengal took place a short while ago. So, what exactly happened that such a massive fire broke out in a government building? How did the fire start, and how did thousands of electronic voting machines get into its grip? The BJP must answer.”
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