Presiding officer withdrawn in Naogaon for signing result sheet before publishing results

A presiding officer has been withdrawn from duty after being accused of signing and sealing the result sheet before the votes were counted and the results were officially announced in Naogaon.

This took place around 12 noon on Thursday at the Katkhair High School polling center in Sadar Upazila. 

The presiding officer, Nazim Uddin, was removed from his position at approximately 1:30 pm by the Assistant Returning Officer and Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mohammad Ibnul Abedin following the allegation. 

Nazim Uddin is a deputy assistant engineer in the Naogaon Road and Township Department. 

Eyewitnesses reported that, during the vote-counting process, the presiding officer applied his signature and designation seal to the result sheet prematurely. 

As per election rules, the result sheet is required to be filled out and signed only after the completion of voting, and this must be done in the presence of polling agents.

When questioned about the complaint, presiding officer Nazim Uddin acknowledged the incident and explained that preparing the results after voting can be time-consuming and sometimes creates a time crisis. 

He stated that, for the sake of convenience and to save time, he had signed the result sheets in advance, though he admitted uncertainty about whether this was legally permissible. 

Mohammad Ibnul Abedin, the Naogaon Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Assistant Returning Officer, confirmed that there is no provision in the rules allowing the result sheet to be signed before the counting of votes. 

After verifying that the allegations were true, he withdrew Nazim Uddin from election duty at that center, and arrangements were made to appoint a new presiding officer.