KOLKATA, INDIA — A massive fire tore through a nine-storey government building in Kolkata’s high-security Alipore area, completely destroying around 4,000 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The incident has triggered an intense political firestorm, with state officials openly raising suspicions of foul play.

The blaze broke out at the South 24 Parganas Zila Parishad office, a major administrative complex that also houses the district units of the Forest Department and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan.

According to West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services Minister of State, Koushik Chowdhury, the fire originally erupted on the third and fourth floors of the building before inexplicably skipping several levels to engulf the top floor.

"Prima facie, the fire first broke out at the third and fourth floors," Minister Chowdhury stated. "It is not yet clear how it reached the eighth and ninth floors while the fifth, sixth, and seventh floors were safe. It is not normal. The fire services personnel were also called pretty late."

The 4,000 EVMs—which included Control Units, Ballot Units, and VVPAT machines—were completely gutted in a storage room on the ninth floor. Officials confirmed that these specific machines had been deployed across 10 vital constituencies—including Kasba, Jadavpur, Behala East, Behala West, Metiaburuz, and Satgachia—during the recent state assembly elections.

As the smell of smoke still hung over Alipore, local authorities moved swiftly to secure the area and establish a formal investigation.

Following a FIR lodged by the Additional District Magistrate, the Alipore police station established a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to uncover how the fire spread. Concurrently, forensic experts have gathered ash and structural samples from the affected third, fourth, and ninth floors. Their upcoming laboratory report is expected to definitively determine whether the disaster was a catastrophic accident or a deliberate act of arson.

The destruction of thousands of secure voting units immediately sparked a fierce war of words between regional leaders and federal authorities.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) lashed out at the Election Commission of India (ECI), questioning how such a breach of security could happen under their watch, especially after previous judicial appeals had been made to safeguard voting machines and CCTV footage.

With a SIT probe underway and the opposition demanding transparency, the Alipore blaze has transformed from a structural emergency into a high-stakes investigation impacting the integrity of the region's electoral infrastructure.