Amid TMC Sit-In, Mamata Banerjee Reaches Strongroom In Kolkata Over EVM Tampering Claims

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday reached the Sakhawat Memorial School in South Kolkata — the counting centre for the Bhabanipur assembly segment that houses the strong rooms for EVMs — following allegations of malpractices and tampering of the voting machines.

The visit came shortly after TMC candidates — Kunal Ghosh and Shashi Panja — staged a sit-in protest outside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in Kolkata, alleging irregular activities inside the EVM strongroom facility.

Lawyer Suryaneel Das, representing BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, questioned police officials deployed outside the strongroom over Mamata’s presence inside the facility for so long.

Kolkata, West Bengal: Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee is reportedly inside the strong room at Sakhawat Memorial School in Kolkata.

In visuals, lawyer Suryaneel Das, representing BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, is seen shouting at police officials, questioning why a candidate is… pic.twitter.com/70RTi3A8eM

— IANS (@ians_india) April 30, 2026

He said Mamata Banerjee’s presence in there is “unconstitutional”, news agency IANS reported.

West Bengal Exit Polls 2026

ECI’s Response To EVM Tampering Claims

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said there were no discrepancies inside Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in Kolkata, after Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates staged a sit-in protest outside the facility.

“We have got the allegations checked and found no merit”, an Election Commission source told CNN-News18.

Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Circle Officer Manoj Kumar said the strong rooms inside the Khudiram facility had been closed and sealed in the presence of candidates and election agents.

“This is a sealed room. How will one open it if it has the double-locking system”? he said, responding to a query from a journalist.

“If you have doubts, go and check if you can enter the room”, he added.

‘One Needs To Prepare For One’s Defeat’

The BJP hit back at the TMC over EVM tampering claims, alleging the party is trying to disseminate false narratives.

Tapas Roy, BJP candidate from Maniktala constituency, said, “One needs to prepare before their defeat. They said something is happening inside. I heard that the DEO (District Election Officer) took them in and showed them everything. So, there was a chaos here. When we reached here, TMC workers sloganeered and verbally abused us. We told the Kolkata Police officials that such things had never happened before at the strong room…”

#WATCH | Kolkata, WB: BJP candidate from Maniktala constituency, Tapas Roy says, “This was the strong room. We heard in the news that a leader is coming here, and two TMC candidates are sitting on a dharna here. They had gone in and given a byte. This had never happened before.… https://t.co/HLCEHzzeSG pic.twitter.com/dxJEh0FRBX

— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2026

“They (TMC) are preparing a false narrative and lying to the common people. This is wrong. We have spoken to the DEO. Everything is alright. We spoke with the DEO, other officers and also Police officers as to why they allowed a particular political party here. They should not have…We will also speak with the Commissioner…” he added, as quoted by news agency ANI. 

Polling in West Bengal was held in two phases — April 23 and 29 — with counting of votes scheduled for May 4.