Polling officials at a booth in Dalgaon in Assam’s Mangaldoi constituency let a woman recast her vote after she complained against one of them having forced her to vote for a party she did not support.
Mangaldoi went to vote on Thursday in the second phase of polling along with Autonomous District, Karimganj, Nowgong, and Silchar parliamentary seats.
“One of the polling personnel forced me to vote for a party different from the one I support. But they let me vote again when I protested,” Maleka Khatun said after casting her vote for the second time at the Sarisabari polling station.
Zonal officer Jayanta Medhi said she was allowed to cast a “tender vote”. A voter is entitled to cast such a vote if he or she finds out that someone has already voted in his or her name.
Tender votes are cast on ballot papers that are then sealed and locked away. Officials said there are modalities of counting such votes.
Darrang district’s Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Dass said no complaint had been received from the polling station.
