Malappuram: The UDF on Saturday alleged that the District Collector, who is also the District Election Officer, issued an order to open the strong room where voting machines were stored, terming it an attempt at sabotage.

According to the UDF, the collector had issued the directive to move the reserve machines that had not been used for voting to the district warehouse. They added that the order was withdrawn after the incident turned into a controversy.

UDF District Chairman KP Abdul Majeed said that strong rooms should only be opened in the presence of political party representatives on the day of vote counting, and that the attempt to open it before that only in Malappuram was an act of sabotage. He also stated that political parties had not been informed about this.

However, Collector Dr Vinay Goyal told Manorama that moving reserve machines to the district warehouse was in accordance with Election Commission guidelines and that political parties had been informed. He clarified that instructions were given to move all unused C and D category machines from the current strong rooms to the district warehouse. He also stated that the strong rooms storing used A and B category machines were untouched and remained secure.