Gulf returnee finds his vote already cast

Trichy: Similar to actor Vijay’s ‘Sarkar’ movie plot, a 34-year-old Gulf returnee who visited to India to cast his vote was shocked to know that his vote was already cast.

The man identified as R Ramesh Kumar had arrived at Trichy from Abu Dhabi, UAE on March 22 with his family to cast their votes in the assembly election. Hailing from Mela Kalkandarkottai, he was supposed to cast his vote in MK Kottai higher secondary school, under the Thiruverumbur assembly segment.

On Tuesday morning at the polling booth, the election officials took his EPIC number and read it out loud for the booth agents to record. “One of the agents said that my vote was already cast and I was totally clueless. I had spent Rs 50,000 in scheduling my travel to cast my vote,” Ramesh said.

After an argument with the election officials, he was given an opportunity to vote using the traditional ballot and stamp under section 49P after providing proof for photo and address. The process took him 30 minutes. “I have insisted the election officials to check the CCTV footage to find out who had cast my vote in a fraudulent way,” Ramesh added.

Election officials said they will inquire into the incident.