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Kozhikode district collector Snehil Kumar Singh on Tuesday, April 21, submitted a report to Kerala Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ratan U Kelkar regarding the opening of a material room, where documents related to the Assembly election in Perambra constituency were stored.
According to reports, the Collector cited lapses on the part of the Returning Officer (RO), who opened the room to collect polling-related documents to update the Election Commission software. The collector will submit a detailed report within two days.
Kelkar told TNM that an inquiry has been initiated into the issue.
The controversy erupted in Perambra on Monday, April 20, after Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) members alleged a conspiracy over the opening of a strong room at the JDT Institute in Vellimadukunnu, where polling-related materials for the Perambra Assembly constituency were stored. In response, the Perambra Returning Officer clarified that the room opened was not the sealed strong room housing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or postal ballots, but an unsealed room used to store polling records.
Speaking to the media on Monday, senior Congress leader and Kozhikode MP MK Raghavan said that access to the strong room is highly restricted after polling.
“Only central forces are permitted access. But now, who all have entered? Government officials have gone inside. Why did they enter, for whom, and with what purpose? A clear answer must be given,” he said.
Following this incident the UDF lodged a complaint with the ECI.
Palakkad incident
A day after the Kozhikode incident caused a controversy, polling officials’ move to open a material room in Palakkad evoked sharp reactions from political parties. Following this, Kelkar issued a directive against opening any rooms in the vote-counting centres.
In Palakkad, the returning officers had planned to open a strong room at Victoria College, which stored the documents in connection with the Nenmara Assembly constituency election. Palakkad District Collector MS Madhavikutty later clarified that the proposal was to access the material strong room, not the EVM strong room.
Madhavikutty explained that the material room, housing election-related documents, is located adjacent to the EVM strong room and that opening it is not irregular. According to officials, the intent was to retrieve Form 17A to ensure accurate data entry on the Election Commission’s website.
The Collector added that such a room would only be opened in the presence of candidates and reiterated that the materials' strong room was not sealed.
Kerala went to the polls on April 9, and counting of votes will take place on May 4.
With IANS inputs