Fire At Kolkata Government Building Destroys Around 4,000 EVMs, Forensic Probe Launched

A major fire at a government administrative building in Kolkata’s Alipore area reportedly destroyed around 4,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), prompting authorities to launch a forensic investigation into the incident.

The blaze broke out at around 9:50 am on Wednesday in the 10-storey South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad building, which houses several state government departments. Ten fire tenders were deployed to contain the flames.

State Fire Minister Kaushik Chowdhury, who visited the site on Thursday, said preliminary findings indicate that the fire may have originated on the third or fourth floor. However, he questioned how it spread to the eighth and ninth floors, where the EVMs were stored, while leaving the fifth, sixth and seventh floors largely unaffected.

According to Chowdhury, the destroyed EVMs belonged to nearly 10 Assembly constituencies and had been kept on the upper floors of the building. Apart from the voting machines, a few government offices, including one linked to the midday meal scheme for schools, also sustained damage.

Officials have registered an FIR and initiated an investigation into the incident. Forensic experts visited the site to collect samples, although lingering heat inside the gutted sections reportedly hampered their inspection.

The administrative complex also housed the office of arrested Trinamool Congress leader Jahangir Khan, who served as the Karmadakshya of the zilla parishad. The South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad is governed by the Trinamool Congress, and the district is widely regarded as a political stronghold of party MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Authorities are awaiting the findings of the forensic examination to determine the exact cause of the fire and the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the EVMs.