Massive Fire Destroys 4,000 EVMs in Kolkata Government Building

A major political storm has erupted in West Bengal after a massive fire gutted nearly 4,000 EVMs stored in a multi-storey government building in Kolkata's Alipore area. The destroyed EVMs, Control Units, and VVPATs were used across 10 constituencies in the recent state assembly elections. State Fire Minister Kaushik Chowdhury has raised strong suspicions of sabotage, noting that the fire skipped multiple middle floors—starting around the third floor and mysteriously leaping straight to the eighth and ninth floors where the poll equipment was locked. As political parties demand answers from the Election Commission over the security of the election evidence, Kolkata Police have registered an FIR and formed a four-member SIT to determine if this was a deliberate act of arson.