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Late on Saturday night, a protest broke out outside the Madurai Medical College following a serious case of security breach at a counting centre in the city.
CPI(M) Lok Sabha candidate Su Venkatesan was alerted on Saturday evening that officials had entered a room without security clearance to access poll-related documents. Samboornam, a
Tahsildar, along with three male officers had reportedly spent over three hours inside the room between 3.15 pm and 6.15 pm on Saturday. It was also reported that two officers had taken out
documents for photocopying them.
Speaking to TNM, Su Venkatesan said, “We will be filing a formal complaint asking that the matter be looked into urgently.”
The incident was verified by CCTV footage from the building, following which the woman Tahsildar and the three officers were suspended. An inquiry has been ordered by District Election
Officer and Madurai Collector S Natarajan.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday CEO Satyabrata Sahoo said that the official only entered the "store room" and not the "strong room" which is hevily guarded. "All strong rooms that has EVM,
VVPAT cannot be breached. It will be guarded with heavy security with 24 hours CCTV recorded and sent to DEO office. She must have only entered the storage room. We are looking into find out
if she has received prior permission."
Su Venkatesan had confirmed to The Hindu that of the six rooms in which documents related to the six Assembly segments were kept, only the one related to Madurai West was left unsealed.
A delayed response from authorities angered those gathered outside which resulted in a law and order situation around 9.00 pm on Saturday. DEO Natarajan later arrived and pacified those
gathered.
Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) Lok Sabha candidate K David Annadurai too expressed concern over the incident. “The election officials should conduct a detailed enquiry to convince us
that they were not favouring the ruling party,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
Admitting that the unusual entry by an officer without prior permission from the DEO was a case of security concern, Natarajan, however, stated that there were no breaches in the rooms where
the EVMs and VVPATs were kept. He later ordered all the rooms to be sealed.