A polling officer was withdrawn from duty on Tuesday morning after he handed a previously filled-in ballot paper to a voter by “mistake” during the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) elections.
The incident occurred around 9am on the second floor of Curzon Hall. The officer was identified as Ziaur Rahman Chowdhury, an officer of Amar Ekushey Hall.
According to polling agents, the incident came to light when a voter was "mistakenly" given a filled-in ballot paper. Earlier, the voter had allegedly been handed two ballot papers, both of which he filled. One was cast into the ballot box while the other remained on the table, which was later passed on unintentionally.
Seema Akter’s polling agent Rajimul Islam, along with another agent who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed the sequence of events.
Admitting the occurrence, Ziaur Rahman Chowdhury claimed it was “unintentional.”
Following complaints, the returning officer of the Curzon Hall center, AM Mohiuddin, withdrew the polling officer at around 11:15am.