EC orders re-poll on one booth of Anand LS constituency

The Election Commission (EC) has annulled all the votes cast at a booth in the Anand Lok Sabha constituency of Gujarat last month and ordered fresh polling on May 12, an official said Thursday.

The EC move came in the wake of report of bogus polling at the booth submitted by officials.

A release issued by Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer S Murali Krishna here said re-polling will be held on a booth, officially named '239-Dharmaj-8', on May 12 as the EC has cancelled the polling held there on April 23.

The booth is located in Dharmaj village of Anand district, around 75km from here.

Fresh polling for the voters of the booth will be held between 7 am and 6 pm, the release said.

According to Anand district collector Dilip Rana, the EC has taken the decision following his report about bogus polling on the booth on April 23, when all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat went to the polls.

"At the time of polling on April 23, an incident of bogus voting was detected by us. We have found out that one person gave vote four to five times on that booth.

"Based on our report, the EC has decided to cancel all the votes polled in that booth and announced re-polling," said Rana, who is also the district returning officer.