A minor fire broke out at the State Election Commission (SEC) office in Kolkata on Monday afternoon, coinciding with the counting of votes for the Kaliganj Assembly by-election. The incident prompted momentary panic but was swiftly brought under control without any reported injuries.
The blaze, which originated in the SEC building’s data centre, was detected by an alert staff member who noticed smoke and raised the alarm. Employees and election observers were quickly evacuated from the premises as a precautionary measure.
Preliminary investigations suggest a short circuit may have triggered the fire, although the official cause remains to be ascertained.
“The in-house fire extinguishing system was activated immediately, which prevented the flames from spreading,” said an official familiar with the matter.
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Thanks to the prompt response and functioning fire control measures, external fire services were not required. “There was no damage to sensitive election data or interference with the counting process,” another official added.
At the time of the incident, counting for the high-stakes Kaliganj bypoll was underway and closely monitored by election officials. The SEC later confirmed that vote tabulation was not disrupted.
Normalcy returned within an hour, and work resumed at the office. The Election Commission is expected to conduct a detailed technical assessment of the data centre’s electrical systems following the incident.
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