Five men were caught on CCTV entering a polling booth and stamping ballot papers before placing them in the ballot box at the Lohaboi Baradi Government Primary School polling station in Meduari Union during voting in the Mymensingh-11 (Bhaluka) constituency.
The incident occurred Thursday afternoon and was immediately observed on CCTV at the Upazila Parishad control room. Police and a magistrate were dispatched to the polling center, and the presiding officer, Mohammad Hafiz Uddin, was relieved of his duties. Voting, temporarily suspended for 30 minutes, later resumed under the supervision of assistant presiding officer Abu Hena.
According to local sources, around 2:30pm, a group of youths entered the polling station. Five of them went into a booth and began stamping ballot papers without any polling official present. A one-minute and 33-second video later circulated on Facebook, showing two individuals stamping ballots while three others folded the stamped papers and placed them in the ballot box. Three additional individuals were also seen at the scene.
Bhaluka Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Firoz Hossain, who was serving as Assistant Returning Officer, said police and a magistrate were dispatched immediately after the CCTV footage was observed. Upon review, it was found that there had been some negligence on the part of the presiding officer. He was relieved of duty, and the election process continued under the supervision of another official.
“They may have stamped a maximum of 50 to 100 ballot papers. Under electoral law, if a ballot paper does not bear the seal and signature of the assistant presiding officer, it is invalid. There is no scope to count invalid ballots. We will not count those ballot papers. We were able to bring voters back to the center within the shortest possible time,” Firoz Hossain said.
