The Nation

Published on Sep 8, 2004

The 78-year-old grandmother who mistakenly tore up her ballot during the Bangkok governor election escaped charges yesterday.

Police declined to pursue her case after a hospital verified in writing that Puengpian Thongpanchang suffered seriously impaired hearing,

said LtColonel Winit Ponying of Tung Song Hong Police Station, who was in charge of the case.

Puengpian had gone to her polling station in Lak Si district on August 29 to cast her vote when she was arrested for defacing her ballot.

She told police that because she was hard of hearing, she read an election official’s lips as asking “Have you ripped the ballot yet

” instead of “Have you ticked the ballot yet”.

Public prosecutors had earlier returned the case to police and concluded in their report that the elderly woman had mutilated her ballot in error.

After learning that police had dropped the case, Puengpian told neighbours the legal hitch would not prevent her from exercising her duty to vote in the future.

“Next time, I won’t tear my ballot. I don’t want to have any problems with the police,” a neighbour quoted her as saying.