14 Arrested For ‘Booth Capturing’ In Panchayat Polls In Odisha’s Jajpur

Jajpur: A day after some miscreants captured two booths and resorted to fake voting during first phase of panchayat elections on Wednesday, police have arrested 14 persons from different parts of the district in this connection on Thursday.

According to sources, soon after a video showing the booth capture by two miscreants in Rudrapur panchayat under Jajpur block went viral on Wednesday, the district administration swung into action and launched an operation to trace them.

On the basis of the video footage, the police identified the two persons as sarpanch candidate Karunakar Acharya and his accomplice Maninatha Sahoo and arrested them on Thursday.

The video showed that the two along with others including a woman barged into the booth and forcibly inserted ballot papers into the ballot boxes in presence of poll officials. Karunakar’s three children, including two sons, were also found involved in the electoral offence.

As they threatened the officials in the booth, the latter could not prevent them. However, the polling officials later informed the administration and police.

Earlier in the day, 12 persons were arrested on similar charge of booth capturing in Dharamsala block of the district. They will be produced before court, said police.