Police at the Emirates Stadium in the Scottish city said they were investigating possible cases of double vote impersonation where people pretend to be someone else, cast a vote and then the real person later turns up to vote again.

The referendum was won by those against Scotland’s independence from Britain, thus keeping the 307-year union intact. Victory was secured by a margin of around 55 per cent against 45 per cent for the No campaign in a bruising battle which will still have repercussions for decades to come.

Commenting on the alleged rigging incidents, Colin Edgar, spokesman for the Counting Officer, said: “What appears to have happened is somebody has arrived at the polling station and given their name and asked to vote.

“The polling clerk has gone to cross off their name and it appears that they have already voted, so what we did was contact the police straight away.

“The police asked us if we could recover the ballot papers which we can because we know which box they are in and we know the number of the ballot paper.”

Police instructed counters to wear special gloves while handling the suspect ballot papers so as not to contaminate the evidence.

He said enumerators were “on the floor working with police to find those ballot papers” in order to keep them “safe and secure so that they can form part of an investigation.”

Stewart Hosie, SNP Treasury spokesman at Westminster, said it was “very sad that people feel the need to engage in any kind of impersonation.”

He told Sky News: “I think that’s a daft thing to do.

“The ballot papers have been identified, they will be taken away and fingerprinted, the police will do their job and I’m sure whoever has done it will be caught and sentenced.

“That’s the correct procedure. It won’t change the result but of course it shouldn’t have happened, it is a silly, silly, thing for anyone to try to do.”

No voter Margaret Madden, 74, from Cathcart in Glasgow told how a friend’s husband turned up to vote in Glasgow and was told by the polling station staff that he had already done so.

She said: “He argued with the polling station and told them he had just come straight from work and had not voted.

“They looked at their records and said, ‘Yes you have and you can’t vote twice.’

“He was very angry and showed them his ID, his proof of address but they said there was nothing they could do.

“Someone had taken his vote for him somehow. He complained straight away to police at the polling station and they did say they would look into it. They need to get to the bottom of it.”

A Glasgow City Council press spokeswoman said: “The ballot paper is obviously in the ballot box so police are called and they have to locate the ballot paper.

“The original ballot paper is fished out but remains part of the count until police prove fraud has taken place.

“It’s taken out and put into an evidence bag and given to the police.

“There’s a possibility of 10 cases across polling stations.

“Police were called and that’s being investigated now.”

The ballot paper is searched for using blue gloves to preserve the evidence.

The real voter is given a special vote which is not included in the count until fraud is proven, she said.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police Scotland takes the safety and security of the independence referendum extremely seriously and is working with partner agencies including local authorities and the Chief Counting Officer to ensure the integrity of the ballot.

“Any crime committed will be investigated appropriately.”

•Pieced together from two related stories in Daily Express. Photo shows devastated independece campaigners after the announcement of the result of the referendum.

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