Dictionary definition of “booth capturing”

booth capturing

n. the act of seizing and controlling a polling station so that many fraudulent votes may be cast there. Subjects: English, India, Politics

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Citations: 1983 New York Times (June 10) “Gandhi Party Demands New Voting in Kashmir” p. A5: The general secretary of the Congress Party, Malik Mohiuddin, said the National Conference Party had destroyed “the very fiber of the democratic system in the country by its alleged large-scale rigging and booth capturing.” 1984 Washington Post (Dec. 25) “Heavy Voting and Violence Mark Indian Elections”: Police said that the deaths and injuries occurred during clashes between rival parties, police gunfire to break up disturbances and incidents of “booth capturing,” a uniquely South Asian election phenomenon in which armed partisan gangs raid a polling station where an election is closely contested and shoot it out until one party takes command of the election boxes. 2004 Davie Rohde New York Times (Apr. 27) “On New Voting Machine, the Same Old Fraud”: The men had carried out a new version of a storied Indian electoral trick: “booth capturing,” in which armed thugs hired by political parties seize control of a polling place and stuff ballot boxes.

Posted 11 May 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend