BJP candidate films youth climbing strongroom roof raising security concerns
The Statesman | 4 May 2026
A video showing a youth scaling the wall of the counting centre within the Burdwan University complex late on Friday evening has sparked controversy over strongroom security ahead of counting day.
Bardhaman Uttar BJP candidate Sanjay Das filmed and circulated the clip, which quickly went viral. The footage shows one person climbing with a rope while another stands on the roof of the counting centre building. Das alleged that unknown persons were seen on the roof at night and claimed loud noises “like something breaking” were heard inside. He further alleged that the CCTV display went blank for a period of time.
The University Institute of Technology (UIT) strongroom houses EVMs for five Assembly segments of Burdwan (Sadar) and Burdwan (North) subdivisions. The centre is under a three-tier security cover, with CAPF guarding the strongroom and building round-the-clock, and armed state police posted at the campus gate.
Meanwhile, TMC Chhatra Parishad district president Swaraj Ghosh pointed to discrepancies in CCTV timestamps, claiming cameras in two centres were running one to two minutes ahead of actual time. He alleged repeated complaints about security lapses had gone unaddressed.
The district election office stated that air-conditioning units and CCTV cameras were being installed in the counting rooms and that all issues had been communicated to the respective political parties.