15: State chief electoral officer Praveen Kumar on Friday said 27 companies of the Central paramilitary forces will be positioned at the inner tier — near the doors — of the three-layer security provided for strong rooms where the EVMs are stored. The other two layers will be guarded by TN special police and armed reserve police to ensure safety of the EVMs kept in 96 sealed rooms till May 13.
The electricity board has been told to provide uninterrupted power to the strong rooms, while district collectors and SPs are responsible for safeguarding the EVMs. “The district collectors should visit the strong rooms at the headquarters regularly and keep vigil on the strong rooms. Returning officers will be visiting the strong rooms twice a day,” said the CEO. Mr Kumar said candidates could have representatives on rotation basis to keep an eye on the strong rooms where there would be cameras monitoring.
Regarding repolling at seven booths on Saturday, he said, “Repolling has been ordered at another booth, Puliyampatti, in Sankarankoil, where a few party agents were seen assisting the public in casting votes, which was recorded in the web camera.”
On the Rajinikanth issue, he said, “We have seen the visuals of Rajinikanth’s voting at Stella Maris college. But it was not visible to which party he voted. However, we have sent the visuals to the ECI for scrutiny.” DGP Bhola Nath said the inner tier, where CPMF are deployed, would be divided into two.