# Cities

Prayagraj: Stray dog locked inside strong room poses questions over safety of poll material

The canine kept screaming the whole night on Saturday but the administrative officers came to know about it only on Sunday afternoon.

Manoj Bhadra | Prayagraj | May 27, 2024 4:37 pm

Prayagraj: Stray dog locked inside strong room poses questions over safety of poll material

In a bizarre incident that puts a question mark on the security of the strong room storing the EVMs and election documents after polling, a stray dog was found locked in a room of the Meja assembly constituency in the Mundera Mandi district.

The canine kept screaming the whole night on Saturday but the administrative officers came to know about it only on Sunday afternoon.

According to Reports, after voting on Saturday polling personnel submitted the EVMs and election-related documents at Mundera Mandi. The dog was in the room when the election forms related to the Meja assembly constituency were being kept. Since no one noticed his presence, the room was locked with the dog inside.

While the screaming of the dog kept coming out the entire night, the administrative officials came to know about it only in the morning. In the evening, all the candidates were summoned to Mundera Mandi, and in their presence, the room was opened around 10:15 pm. As soon as the room was opened, the dog ran away. The candidates were shown all the forms which were luckily found intact.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, taking a dig at the administration over the episode, questioned the safety and security of the EVMs left at the mercy of the dog locked inside the strong room. He also questioned the counting venue of the records from Mundera Mandi. Posting a news item published on social media site X, he wrote, “This is the condition of high security, what about the rest? Check carefully to see if any person is inside with bad intentions.”