Several bogus voters get away with a scolding

“Most of them are doing it for a little money. You can’t blame them with the price situation. So we scold them and let them go,” Said R.K. Chaturvedi, section officer at a polling booth in Badarpur.

In booth number 18 at the Mehrauli Dargah School, the polling officers took action, but only under pressure from the polling agents of the affected political parties. A polling agent from the BJP caught three youths for impersonation, after they were issued ballot papers. He called out to the police, who said they could not take action unless ordered by the polling officer. “The youths should be arrested. If they are not I am going to ensure that polling is stopped here,” he said. The polling officer thumbed through the rule book and filled up a long form. The youths were later handed over to the police.

In a polling booth at Hastsal, several teenagers cast votes and created a ruckus. Eager to “get over with the whole thing”, the polling officers did not stop them, until an Express Newsline photographer captured a young boy voting in polling station number 91.

The polling officer slapped the boy but did not press charges.