Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) R S Gopalan on Monday rejected the Opposition BJD’s allegation that a truckload of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was covertly moved from Ganjam district to Nuapada on November 9 ahead of the by-election to the constituency. Addressing a press conference here, Gopalan said the CEO’s office has received a complaint regarding the transportation of EVMs from Ganjam to Nuapada. “This allegation is completely baseless and impossible. We have verified the CCTV footage of the EVM warehouses at Ganjam, and there have been no such activities there,” the CEO said. He said, “No EVM has been brought from anywhere nor sent out of Nuapada district”. Gopalan said each district has its own EVM warehouse/secured by police and CCTV surveillance. EVMs to be used in the Nuapada by-poll were procured only from those stored in the warehouse in the district. “The allegation that the Nuapada Collector brought EVMs from Ganjam is entirely false. We also have the list of all EVMs used, even for training and creating awareness among the voters, and those are in our custody. Voters should not believe in such allegations and news on television channels,” he said.

Gopalan further said the warehouses in Ganjam district were intact. There was no movement of any EVMs, he said, adding that though warehouses are opened every three months for inspection, it has not even been opened this month. “When we open the warehouses, the entire process is video recorded and carried out in the presence of representatives of all political parties. They are given a copy with serial numbers of all EVMs,” he claimed.

However, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty, at a press conference, rejected the CEO’s claims. “With due respect to the CEO, we as a responsible political party wantto say that the EVMs were transported from Ganjam district and set to be engaged in 32 specific booths in Nuapada. We have submitted the list of such booths where the new EVMs are planned to be planted,” Mohanty claimed.

Asked about the CCTV footage claim of the CEO, the BJD leader said, “We have seen how CCTVs are functioning in the State. When a senior lawyer was killed in Berhampur, there was no CCTV footage. Similarly, when a stampede took place during the Rath Yatra in Puri, the CCTVs were not working. One can conclude from these two incidents how one can rely on CCTVs in Ganjam EVM warehouses.”

The BJD also raised a complaint on the activities of the Nuapada District Collector, the SP and the IGP of the region. “These people are working for the ruling BJP and not for democracy,” Mohanty alleged, though he said that the Opposition party has trust inthe credibility of CEO Gopalan.