Kolkata, Dec 14 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) to provide CCTV cameras in all polling booths and in the strong room where EVMs used in the December 19 Kolkata Municipal Corporation election will be kept.

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The HC direction came during the hearing of a PIL moved before the court by a man claiming to be a BJP worker who prayed that all the 4,842 main and 365 additional auxiliary polling booths be kept under CCTV surveillance on the day of polling as also the strong room where the EVMs will be kept till the date of counting.

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The SEC submitted that provision has been made for installation of CCTV cameras in 25 per cent of the polling booths and it has no difficulty in accepting the petitioner's prayer.

the West Bengal government submitted that it has no role in this issue.

Noting that the SEC has accepted the prayer of the petitioner, the bench directed the commission to act in accordance with the statement made before the court and "provide CCTV cameras in all the main and auxiliary polling booths as also in strong room where EVMs will be kept in the forthcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation Election."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)