Commandos & cameras for EVMs

Sixty hours of non-stop electronic surveillance and commando protection for Mamata Banerjee and Rabin Deb. Non-stop vigil by Special Action Force commandos armed with Insas rifles for Md Salim and Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Khaki-clad cops with ageing .303 rifles for Sujan Chakraborty and Kabir Suman.
One election, three constituencies, six key candidates but somewhat varying levels of security.That is what TOI discovered at various strongrooms across the city on Thursday.
The 4,500-odd EVMs, with 29 lakh votes embedded in chips, have been kept in the strongrooms at the six counting centres in the city Netaji Indoor Stadium, Gyan Chandra Ghosh Polytechnic in Kidderpore, National Library at Alipore, Ballygunge Government High School and David Hare Training College at Ballygunge and Dinabandhu Andrews College in Garia.
"Beyond these padlocked doors lie the results of months of toil and campaigning. The EVMs contain the people's verdict and will make or break a candidate's fortune on Saturday," said an Election Commission (EC) official at the stadium. The two strongrooms contain all voting machines used in Kolkata North constituency.
Altogether, 16 SAF commandos with Insas assault rifles have been on guard outside the strongroom since they were sealed at 3 am on Thursday. "Two commandos are stationed outside each strongroom and they are changed every two hours to ensure constant alertness and vigil," said the officer in charge, adding that there is an outer security ring comprising Rapid Action Force, Combat Force, Riot Control Force and intelligence wing officers.
This security might seem more than adequate to safeguard the votes but for heavyweight candidates in Kolkata South, the safety measures move a notch higher with non-stop videography of strongroom doors at the four centres Gyan Chandra Ghosh Polytechnic, National Library, Ballygunge Government High School and David Hare Training College.
"Video cameras on tripods were installed before each strongroom and recording was began before the EVMs were carried in. They will continue to roll till the seals are broken on Saturday morning and the EVMs taken to the counting centres," an EC official said.
Here, too, the videographers are replaced every six hours and cassettes changed every three hours to ensure uninterrupted coverage of the doors. "The recorded tapes are logged and sealed for review later," the videographer seated before the strongroom containing the EVMs from the Kolkata South constituency's Bhowanipore Assembly segment said.
The video cameras were rolling at Ballygunge Government High School strongroom that contained EVMs from Rashbehari Assembly segment, David Hare Training College strongroom with EVMs from Ballygunge Assembly segment and strongrooms at Gyan Chandra Polytechnic with EVMs from Kasba, Behala Purba and Behala Paschim Assembly segments.
Further down south, to Dinabandhu Andrews College that housed EVMs from the entire Jadavpur constituency, the security scene was completely different with just one
SAP jawan sitting before each strongroom. They were armed with just .303 rifles. "There are five strongrooms here that are guarded by 15 SAP personnel in two-hour shifts each," the lone man in khaki said.
Are the votes cast by people of Jadavpur any less precious than those of Kolkata North and Kolkata South? "The threat perception in Kolkata South is definitely more than Jadavpur," said a security officer.