Daikundi provincial council candidate fined

NILI (Pajhwok): A provincial council candidate was fined 50,000 afghanis on charge of committing fraud in the April 5 elections in southwestern Daikundi province, an official said Thursday.

Mir Hussain Nazari, provincial Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) spokesman, said that Mohammad Zahir, a provincial council candidate, was fined on charge of copying and removing other candidates’ names from ballot papers.

He said fake ballot papers were distributed among his supporters to project that other candidates were disqualified.

Rejecting the claim, the accused candidate said such claims were part of propaganda campaign against him hatched up by his rivals.

The issue had been referred to the main office of Independent Election Commission (IEC for further investigation.

Nazari said that 28 elections’ related complaints had been registered with the IECC, with 21 of them were received by telephone regarding lack of ballot papers in the polling stations, he said.

Six of the complaints stood in the A category which would be investigated carefully.

He said 15 ballot boxes including one of them belonged to presidential candidates in six polling sites were declared suspicious with fraud and other anomalies in Daikundi province.

“The complaints may affect the result of votes, that is why these ballot boxes will be quarantined for a thorough review,” Nazari concluded.

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