A booth with 90 voters in Assam polled 171 votes, officials fired

Guwahati: In what has raised the suspicion of bogus polling, the Election Commission has found that 171 votes were cast at a booth where only 90 people were eligible to exercise their franchise in Halflong Assembly constituency of Dima Hasao district on April 1.

Soon after the irregularity came to notice, the district election officer suspended five poll officials of the booth, set up at 107(A) Khotlir LP School, and proposed a repoll. Halflong had recorded 74 per cent polling. It is an auxiliary polling station of the main voting centre at Mouldam LP School.

An official said, “The head of that interior village refused to accept the official voter list and brought a list of his own. Then, the people of the village voted according to that list.”

Meanwhile, the election commission has made elaborate arrangements for the third and last round of polling on Tuesday in which the fate of 337 candidates, including NEDA convener and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Noted Bollywood singer Kalpana Patowary is contesting on an AGP ticket from Sarukhetri, while journalists Manjit Mahanta and Hridyananda Gogoi are locked in a battle in Dispur on Congress and NCP tickets respectively.