Proxy voters wiping off the ink mark at a booth on Wednesday. Picture by Nishit Dholabhai

Kohima, May 5: At the end, it wasn’t interference by rebels but proxy voting which marred polling for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland today.

The voting percentage is estimated to be around 87. Repoll will be held, probably on May 7, in one polling station in Tuensang district where more votes were cast than the actual number of voters. The polling station has 597 voters on its list but 602 votes were polled, returning officer T.N. Mannen said.

Young proxy voters had a field day, casting votes at random and removing the ink mark on their fingers with Velocity, a solution used by hairdressers. Agents of political parties could be seen waiting with bottles of the solution only a few metres away from the booths. Others used nail polish removers.

“Presiding officers cannot say anything,” said a youth at the Mezhur Higher Secondary School polling station. He had already voted 24 times and scribes had to wait to interview the “celebrity” as he queued up for the “record” 25th time.

The “record,” however, was shortlived as another woman in the Dairy Colony polling booth claimed to have voted 28 times.

“The election was certainly free, but not fair,” said Asha Khire, an elderly voter.

Governor Shyamal Datta and his wife Ishani, cast their vote at the Law College polling booth while chief minister Neiphiu Rio exercised his franchise at his native Touphema village. Former chief minister S.C. Jamir cast his vote in Mokokchung.

Longleng led with 97 per cent polling followed by Mokokchung with 90 per cent. The lowest available figure was at Phek where only 60 per cent of the voters turned out. Kohima district recorded 87 per cent polling.

Election observer Rakesh Bihari said polling was “peaceful and orderly.”

Asked if he knew anything about the widespread proxy voting, Bihari said the incidents should have been brought to his notice when polling was on.