Booth capturing

From Freepedia

Booth capturing is a type of electoral fraud, witnessed primarily in India where armed party loyalists "capture" a polling booth and vote on behalf of the voters to ensure that their candidate wins. Though it is a kind of voter suppression, unlike other forms of voting fraud, booth-capturing is a malpractice witnessed mainly in India and the least subtle of all.

Almost every state in the country has witnessed some booths being captured either by the ruling or opposition parties, though it is proportionately widespread in states in North India like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring areas. The word came into prominent use by the media during the late 1970s and 1980s when the number of parties and therefore candidates multiplied. This resulted in some politicians using underhand methods including booth capturing, especially in the rural hinterland of India. It became such an organised part of the Indian election process, that there were gangs who organised themselves to stuff ballot boxes, another to intimidate the public and even the polling officers while the police were either bribed or intimidated themselves. The modus operandi of such booth capturing operations was made easier by the fact that communication in many areas was literally absent with minimal to no police protection and there was also some kind of political backing to such unlawful activities. By the 90s it became a common and unsightly occurence wherever elections were held. Sometimes two rival party thugs would descend on the same polling station, resulting in violent clashes with injuries and even deaths on both sides.

In 1989 the Representation of the People Act, 1951 was modified to include booth capturing as an offence punishable by law and countermanding or adjourning any poll that was booth captured. 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 5 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). The EVMs also posses 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 slightly reduced rate and many candidates who lose elections in India regularly complain that their opponents indulged in booth capturing to win.