Kolkata Government Building Fire Destroys 4,000 EVMs; Forensic Investigation Underway

A major fire at the South 24 Parganas Zilla Parishad building in Kolkata has destroyed around 4,000 Electronic Voting Machines stored on the eighth and ninth floors, officials said. The blaze broke out on June 10 and has raised questions after preliminary findings suggested it may have started on the third or fourth floor while the floors in between suffered limited damage. Fire Minister Kaushik Chowdhury said forensic teams are investigating the cause and spread of the fire. An FIR has been registered, and officials are examining evidence from the ten-storey government building, which houses several state departments and offices.