This one is a secretarial one of a key Ministry. He turned up at a polling station located in a city suburb. He handed his polling card to the clerk concerned and waited for the ballot paper.


The clerk who perused the electors’ register looked up and announced: “Sir, you can’t vote.”

 The bemused official asked: “Why can’t I vote?”

“According to this register you are dead. So you can’t vote.”

“If I am dead, how can I be present here to cast my vote,” the official asked again.

“Well, according to the register, you are dead. The dead can’t vote,” he said with finality.

A junior presiding officer who was listening to the argument intervened.

“Look up the other electors’ register,” he told the clerk.

The clerk who went through the other register found the name of the official in it as that of an eligible elector.

The JPO gave his ruling: “According to this register this gentleman is not dead. He has produced both his National Identity card and the polling card. So he is entitled to cast his vote.”

The official who looked highly amused was seen wearing a smile even when he was leaving the polling station.