Assembly Polls: Returning officer rejects reports of opening strong room in Kerala's Perambra

The Returning Officer of Perambra constituency in this district on Monday clarified that reports of a strong room being opened at JDT College here, where the EVMs of the assembly polls are stored, were incorrect. The officer, in a statement, said that an unsealed room, where polling records of the Perambra constituency were kept, was opened in the presence of candidates' poll agents for the purpose of updating information in the software related to the election process. The officer also clarified that the room did not contain Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or postal ballots, the statement added. The clarification came soon after the Congress-led UDF released a purported visual in which officials could be seen opening a particular room at the JDT. Congress DCC president K Praveen Kumar said entering of any state official or the state police personnel in the particular area amounts to violation of election commission rules. He said the returning officer claimed that it was a ''material room'' but such a facility cannot be set up within the inner perimeter area notified by the Commission. Besides Kumar, the other UDF leaders who gathered there, also questioned how the Kerala police could enter the area. ''The central force has been entrusted with the security of the area. There is no need to open the particular room before the counting day,'' Kumar said. Though authorities clarified that the respective room was opened with the knowledge of the election agents of respective candidates, UDF leaders rejected it and said their agent had no information about it. The results of the April 9 Assembly polls to 140 constituencies in Kerala will be declared on May 4, officials said.