Afghanistan's vote monitoring body yesterday ordered for the first time that ballots be scrapped from 83 polling stations finding "clear and convincing evidence of fraud" in troubled elections.

Afghans went to the polls in only their second direct Presidential election on August 20, but the vote has been marred by low turnout and widespread allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and other fraud.

"In the course of its investigations, the ECC (Electoral Complaints Commission) has found clear and convincing evidence of fraud" in 83 polling stations in three provinces, the ECC said in statements.

The UN-backed body said the ballots from those stations should be excluded from the final vote, which with almost all ballots counted looks set to re-elect incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

Most of the presidential ballots in question came from Mr Karzai strongholds. The majority were cast in 51 polling stations in Kandahar Mr Karzai's political heartland but also a Taliban stronghold.

The incumbent's leading challengers have accused Mr Karzai's team of ballot-stuffing and rigging in a bid to buy the leader a second five-year term in office, raising questions about the legitimacy of any new Karzai government. All presidential ballots in five polling stations in southeastern Paktika province were also invalidated, the commission said. The ECC cited indications from the Kandahar and Paktika stations "that the ballots were not legally cast, or were not legally counted."

In 27 polling stations in Ghazni, either all the Presidential ballots, all the provincial council ballots, or in some cases both, were ordered thrown out. Investigations in Ghazni found indications of fraud including unfolded ballots, miscounted ballots, missing material, and lists of voters with numerous fictitious card numbers, the ECC said.

There are 600-700 Presidential ballot papers and the same number of ballots for provincial elections at each of Afghanistan's 25,450 polling stations, the Independent Electoral Commission has said.