By Staff Correspondent
Serious allegations of mismanagement and fraudulent voting have emerged from a polling centre, where a woman voter claims she was denied her right to vote after being told that her ballot had already been cast.
According to the voter, she arrived at the polling centre with her voter slip and attempted to exercise her franchise. However, polling officials informed her that her name and serial number did not match the voter list. When she presented her National Identity Card (NID) for verification, she was allegedly told: “Your vote has already been cast.”
Shocked by the response, the woman protested, saying, “I will cast my own vote. Who cast my vote? Which person did it?”
In an apparent attempt to defuse the situation, officials reportedly handed her a ballot paper and asked her to stamp it. But after she marked her choice, she was instructed not to place the ballot into the ballot box. Instead, a person on duty allegedly told her, “Do not put the paper in the box. Stamp it and give it to me.”
The stamped ballot was then taken by hand rather than being deposited into the ballot box — an act that constitutes a clear violation of electoral procedures and raises serious concerns about transparency in the vote-counting process.
When the incident became known, the voter’s brother arrived at the centre and questioned the officials. In response, officials reportedly claimed that another woman had come earlier with a photocopy of identification documents and cast a “false vote” in her name.
Expressing anger at the explanation, the voter said, “Anyone can memorize my father’s and mother’s names. But how could her face match mine? Why didn’t you detain her?”
The incident has sparked outrage and insecurity among voters, highlighting concerns over voter impersonation, procedural lapses, and the safeguarding of ballot secrecy.
Denying a legitimate voter while allowing an alleged impersonator to cast a ballot — and collecting stamped ballots by hand instead of placing them in the ballot box — has cast a shadow over the credibility and fairness of the electoral process at the centre.
