14 people arrested in Jajpur, for allegedly rigging panchayat elections
14 people arrested in Jajpur, for allegedly rigging panchayat elections
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Jajpur: On Thursday, police arrested 14 people from various sections of the district in connection with the capture of two booths and use of bogus votes during the first phase of panchayat elections on Wednesday.
According to authorities, the district government leapt into action and initiated an operation to track down two miscreants after a video of them robbing a booth in Rudrapur panchayat in Jajpur block went viral on Wednesday.
Police recognised the two individuals as sarpanch candidate Karunakar Acharya and his accomplice Maninatha Sahoo based on the video evidence and detained them on Thursday.
The two, along with others, including a lady, barged into the booth and violently inserted ballot papers into the voting boxes in front of poll officials, according to the footage. Karunakar's three children, two of whom are sons, were also discovered to be complicit in the electoral fraud.
They threatened the officials in the booth, who were powerless to stop them. The polling officials, on the other hand, later informed the administration and the police.
Earlier in the day, 12 people were arrested in the Dharamsala block of the district on a similar accusation of booth capturing. According to police, they will be brought before a judge.
