Six women who turned up intending to vote in Ziyarat Batamaloo on Wednesday returned sheepishly without casting the ballot after the candidate identified them as his “neighbours from another area”.
Just 12 votes had been cast at the booth by around 2 pm when the six women turned up with voter slips in their hands.
On seeing the women, the BJP candidate Younis Ahmad, who is a resident of Solina but contesting from the municipal polls from Batamaloo identified them as his neighbours.
Guided by a man, the women made their entry at the polling booth inside Labour Commissioner Office Batamaloo and presented their voter slips to the polling officer.
Right then, Younis Ahmad, the BJP candidate stepped forward asking them, “Do Solina people have also to vote here?”
“No, no, we are not going to vote here,” the women said almost in unison, and quickly disappeared from the scene.
Five candidates are contesting from Ziyarat Batamaloo, one from BJP and four as independents.
Younis Ahmad said all the six women were bogus voters. “They are my neighbours in Solina and I recognised them. Their attempt to caste vote at this booth surprised me first. Then I realised it was an effort by my opponent candidate to get fraud votes to lead,” he said.
At the end of the day, just 40 votes out of more than thousand were polled at the booth.