Presiding officer Malik Suhail told TOI that Bhat entered the polling station at around 1:30pm and hit him. "She even tried to smash the electronic voting machine. She slapped me thrice," alleged Suhail, an assistant director in the statistical department.
As presiding officer, Suhal said he then called the magistrate and the police who reported the matter to higher-ups, following which Bhat was asked to leave the polling station.
Denying this, Bhat said, "I stopped the polling because the polling officer, feigning to guide a voter on how to activate an EVM, was casting a vote on her behalf."
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was quick to tweet, "The BJP candidate in Srinagar, who earlier threatened to pick up a gun over Art 370, now slaps a polling officer. Well done."
Bhat said there was widespread rigging on Sunday and that the "rigged polling will give birth to another Salahuddin" - a reference to Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahuddin, who, as Mohammed Yusuf Shah, was a Muslim United Front candidate for Amira Kadal in the 1987.
After losing to NC's Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, Salahuddin led protests against widespread rigging and was jailed in 1987. After his release, he joined the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Meanwhile, NC candidate Nisar Wani was made to leave the polling station at Natipora in Amira Kadal when he tried to interfere in the working of the polling staff.
BJP candidate from Shopian, Javed Ahmad Qadri, allegedly thrashed a voter inside a polling station, accusing the PDP and NC workers of electoral malpractices.
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