Booth capturing

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Booth capturing or booth looting is an electoral fraud in which party loyalists or hired criminals "capture" a polling booth and vote in place of legitimate voters to ensure that a particular candidate wins. It is a form of voter suppression.

Booth capturing in India[]

It is a general rule in Indian elections that agents of every contesting candidates need to be present at the booth.^{[citation needed]} But in many areas they are threatened or assaulted, and they leave the polling premises. ECI has a general abbreviation that only giving one or half section CPMF(Central Para Military Forces) is enough to prevent the incidents.^{[citation needed]}

The first instance of booth capturing in India was recorded in the 1957 General Elections in Rachiyahi, in Begusarai District's Matihani assembly seat.^[1][2][3][4] The word came into prominent use in the media during the late 1970s and 1980s when the number of parties and candidates multiplied. This resulted in some Parties using underhand methods including booth capturing, especially in the rural India.

In 1989 the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was modified to include booth capturing as an offense punishable by law and countermanding or adjourning any poll that was booth captured.^[5] The development of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was also intended to make it harder for booth capturers to stuff the ballot boxes with their votes by enabling a five-minute delay between each vote entered as against hundreds of votes in the same time using ballot papers (stamped by a group of 3–4).^[6] The EVMs also possess a "close" button which can be used by the polling officer to deactivate the machines. Despite this, booth capturing continues to happen, albeit at a much reduced rate.^{[citation needed]}

Booth capturing in Nepal[]

Booth capturing was prevalent in 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly. Reelection was required in 106 polling stations due to electoral fraud which included booth capturing.^[7] Political parties have accused each other of booth capturing and demanded reelections as recent as 2017.^[8]

See also[]

• Corruption in India
• Electoral reform in India

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Nedumpara, Jose (2004). Political Economy and Class Contradictions: A Study. New Delhi: Anmol.
• Omvedt, Gail (1993). Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
• (2005). "Poll Booth Rerun Infamy in Churulia." The Statesman (India). 29 September.
• Shakder, S. L. (1992). The Law and Practice of Elections in India. Mumbai: National Publishing House.
• Singh, Bhim (2002). Murder of Democracy in Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi: Amand Niketan.

Further reading[]

• Vaishnav, Milan (2017). When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300224740.

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