MONGKOL BANGPRAPA

The Election Commission (EC) will probe why Don Muang constituency had the largest number of invalid ballots in the general election, at more than 21,000.

EC chairman Wasana Permlarp said yesterday the inquiry would find out why exactly there was such a massive number of invalid ballots at Bangkok's constituency 14 (Don Muang).

Anyone found to have urged voters to cast dud ballots would face legal action for breach of the election law.

The total number of invalid ballots cast in the constituency was 21,782.

At first, the EC suspected they had been cast during advance voting before Thai Rak Thai candidate Karun Hosakul was disqualified from the race because of his questionable educational background. However, it was found later that only 2,731 people had voted in advance.

Right after his disqualification Mr Karun had said he would urge his supporters to vote for him anyway though their ballots would become invalid, as a gesture of protest against his ouster from the race.

Pol Gen Wasana said he would also order election officials to report all problems that had occurred during Sunday's polls, including the shortage of ballot papers at some polling stations and the discovery that the number of ballots cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in some constituencies.

Such shortcomings would be corrected before the next Senate election.

The EC chairman said the use of electronic voting machines could help reduce the number of dud ballots due to improper voting for disqualified candidates.