Incident at the Triolet voting center: Agents’ concerns

An unusual situation was reported in the early morning hours of Saturday, November 9 at the Daneshwack Sewraz Government School, located in Triolet, used as a voting center for the upcoming elections. Akesh Bhye Bhuckory, campaign manager of the Alliance for Change, reported a suspicious incident after being informed by his party agents of the presence of a car on the school grounds.

Around 2 a.m., the campaign manager went to the site to inspect the site. When he arrived, the police were already there. Initial investigation revealed that the car belonged to the local caretaker. After having difficulty unlocking his vehicle, an inspection was made of the guard’s car and nothing suspicious was found.

The campaign manager then carried out an inspection of the classrooms, from the outside, where he noticed election boxes stacked in a classroom on the ground floor. These boxes, used for voting, were placed with other similar boxes, but he could not check whether they were empty or full. All the premises were locked, including the classroom where the boxes were kept. The campaign manager contacted an officer from the Electoral Commission (OEC) in the morning to inspect these boxes.

Later on Saturday afternoon, a series of visits took place at the voting center. At 2:55 p.m., Lepep Alliance candidates Soodesh Callichurn, Ravi Rutnah, and Sunil Bholah visited the center along with the Returning Officer. Later, Change Alliance candidates Kaviraj Rookny and Ranjiv Woochit also visited the venue.

Shortly afterwards, a delegation including Geoffroy Cox KC, Dame Rebecca Harris MP, the Hon Graham Stuart MP, and the Hon David Mundell MP, accompanied by Change Alliance legal advisors Sanjay Buckhory SC, Satish Faugoo, and Shaukat Oozeer, joined the center to talk with the Returning Officer. The leader of the Alliance for Change, Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, arrived and the delegation then visited all the classrooms and daycare facilities.

The Returning Officer gave instructions to place an additional police station near the side gate of the school, a measure which was immediately implemented.