TURA, April 13: In a first of its kind in polling history to the GHADC elections, an Independent candidate fighting on the symbol of the Chakra was transformed into a GNC candidate, thanks to an oversight on the part of election officials in Tura.
Contractor cum businessman Mathew Ch Momin, who was contesting as an Independent candidate for the Tura MDC seat found his affiliation changed to that of the regional Garo National Council when polls opened on Monday morning across Tura.
He registered a strong complaint with authorities as the misinformation had led to confusion among his supporters.
While the EVM machine containing the names of each contesting candidate for Tura MDC seat correctly registered the names, symbols and party affiliation, it was the printed poster outside each polling station that had Momin’s affiliation incorrectly printed.
Returning Officer Ram Singh gave a clarification to the candidate stating that the government press tasked with printing the copies of the contesting candidates in yellow to be pasted outside polling stations had made a clerical error by replacing the word “Independent” with GNC for Mathew Momin.
The irony of the story was that the error was ‘duly’ corrected by striking off the GNC and writing Independent with a marker pen by the respective sector officers in 57 polling stations of Tura.
However, supporters of Momin accuse the election machinery in Tura of failing in their duties which could have led to a loss of votes for their candidate due to the error.
“Why did the election officials tasked with the job not check the final print before pasting it outside the polling stations. Many were left confused,” allege supporters of the Independent candidate.
