diff --git a/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/cpu/compute.cpp b/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/cpu/compute.cpp
index c14c919e19..332b284bc9 100644
--- a/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/cpu/compute.cpp
+++ b/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/cpu/compute.cpp
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ void forced_align_impl(
       if (x2 > x1 && x2 > x0) {
         result = x2;
         backPtr_a[t * S + i] = 2; // backPtr_a[t][i] = 2
-      } else if (x1 > x0 && x1 > x2) {
+      } else if (x1 > x0) {
         result = x1;
         backPtr_a[t * S + i] = 1; // backPtr_a[t][i] = 1
       } else {
diff --git a/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/gpu/compute.cu b/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/gpu/compute.cu
index 444a4f8f6d..b92f6a0814 100644
--- a/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/gpu/compute.cu
+++ b/src/libtorchaudio/forced_align/gpu/compute.cu
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ __global__ void falign_cuda_step_kernel(
     if (x2 > x1 && x2 > x0) {
       result = x2;
       backPtrBuffer_a[backPtrBufferLen][i] = 2;
-    } else if (x1 > x0 && x1 > x2) {
+    } else if (x1 > x0) {
       result = x1;
       backPtrBuffer_a[backPtrBufferLen][i] = 1;
     } else {
diff --git a/test/torchaudio_unittest/functional/functional_impl.py b/test/torchaudio_unittest/functional/functional_impl.py
index e2e42f1fe7..8ea49023a4 100644
--- a/test/torchaudio_unittest/functional/functional_impl.py
+++ b/test/torchaudio_unittest/functional/functional_impl.py
@@ -1168,6 +1168,35 @@ def test_forced_align(self, targets, ref_path, targets_dtype):
         self.assertEqual(hyp_path, ref_path)
         self.assertEqual(hyp_scores, ref_scores)
 
+    @parameterized.expand([(torch.int32,), (torch.int64,)])
+    def test_forced_align_optimal_on_ties(self, targets_dtype):
+        """The alignment returned must be a most-likely path, also when two
+        candidate predecessors of a cell score exactly the same.
+
+        The search space here is only 3**3 paths, five of which spell the
+        target; enumerating them gives a best score of -1.0, reached by
+        [1, 0, 2] and by [0, 1, 2]. Which of the two is returned is a
+        tie-breaking convention and is deliberately not asserted -- the score
+        is the invariant. Before this case was fixed the kernel returned
+        [1, 2, 2], scoring -3.0.
+        """
+        log_probs = torch.tensor(
+            [[[0.0, -1.0, -1.0], [0.0, -1.0, -2.0], [-2.0, 0.0, 0.0]]],
+            dtype=self.dtype,
+            device=self.device,
+        )
+        targets = torch.tensor([[1, 2]], dtype=targets_dtype, device=self.device)
+        blank = 0
+        input_lengths = torch.tensor([log_probs.shape[1]], device=self.device)
+        target_lengths = torch.tensor([targets.shape[1]], device=self.device)
+        hyp_path, hyp_scores = F.forced_align(log_probs, targets, input_lengths, target_lengths, blank)
+        # the path spells the target once repeats and blanks are collapsed ...
+        path = hyp_path[0].tolist()
+        collapsed = [t for i, t in enumerate(path) if t != blank and (i == 0 or t != path[i - 1])]
+        self.assertEqual(collapsed, targets[0].tolist())
+        # ... and it is a most likely one
+        self.assertEqual(hyp_scores.sum().item(), -1.0)
+
     @parameterized.expand([(torch.int32,), (torch.int64,)])
     def test_forced_align_fail(self, targets_dtype):
         log_probs = torch.rand(1, 5, 6, dtype=self.dtype, device=self.device)