Dhaka, Jan 17 (bdnews24.com) – The Election Commission on Saturday refuted a BNP allegation that votes cast in a Naogaon polling centre exceeded the number of registered voters.
"The BNP claim of more votes counted than listed voters at Gahelapur High School polling centre in Naogaon-6 is not right," said EC deputy secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed.
"There was no scope for more votes being cast than the actual number of voters, but the confusion arose due to a misprint in the gazette," he told bdnews24.com.
"The actual number of voters in the centre is 4,091, but was misprinted as 3,768," said the EC official.
"Election officials of the district made the mistake, which is not unusual," he said.
BNP joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan told a press briefing on Friday the result sheet signed by the Naogaon district election officer showed 3,845 votes cast in the centre, including 41 cancelled ballots, outnumbered the 3,768 voters listed in the gazette.
Khan said, "The source of 77 excess votes is not comprehensible."
The EC deputy secretary said Saturday, "The ballots cast can by no means outnumber the number of registered voters as the ballot papers sent to each centre equals the number of actual voters."
"The list of voters for Gahelapur High School polling centre, comprising six villages, is 4,091 but was misprinted as 3,768 in the gazette," the EC official repeated.
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