As Assam gears up for the last phase of assembly elections, five polling personnel in the state were suspended after it was revealed that 181 votes had been cast in a booth which had only 90 eligible voters.
As per a report in New Indian Express, the incident was reported from the 107(A) Khothlir Lower Primary School polling booth in the Haflong Assembly segment.
A re-poll in the booth has been ordered by the Dima Hasao District Election Officer who had issued the suspension order citing ‘dereliction of duty’ on April 2, but the matter came to light on Sunday (April 4), three days after the state voted in the second phase of polls on April 1.
The polling booth was an auxiliary polling station of the main voting centre at Mouldam Lower Primary School nearby.
The polling personnel suspended with immediate effect are sector officer Seikhosiem Lhangum, presiding officer Prahlad Chandra Roy, first polling officer Parameswar Charangsa, second polling officer Swaraj Kanti Das and third polling officer Lalzamlo Thiek, The Hindu reported.
“The chief of the interior village refused to accept the official voters’ list and the villagers cast their votes according to the one the chief was armed with,” a poling personnel had told a district official.
Assam will go to polls for the third and final phase of assembly elections on 40 of the total of 126 assembly seats on Tuesday (April 6) when the electoral fate of 337 candidates including 25 women aspirants would be decided.
