Offence of booth capturing

(1) Whoever commits an offence of booth capturing shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to three years and with fine, and where such offence is committed by a person in the service of the Government, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to five years and with fine. Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section and section 20B “booth capturing” includes, among other things, all or any of the following activities, namely:— (a) seizure of a polling station or a place fixed for the poll by any person or persons making polling authorities surrender the ballot papers or voting machines and doing of any other Act which affects the orderly conduct of elections; (b) taking possession of a polling station or a place fixed for the poll by any person or persons, and allowing only his or their own supporters to exercise their right to vote and prevent others from free exercise of their right to vote; (c) coercing or intimidating or threatening directly or indirectly, any elector and preventing him from going to the polling station or a place fixed for the poll to cast his vote; (d) seizure of a place for counting of votes by any person or persons, making the counting authorities surrender the ballot papers or voting machines and the doing of anything which affects the orderly counting of votes; (e) doing by any person in the service of Government, of all or any of the aforesaid activities or aiding or conniving at, any such activity in the furtherance of the prospects of the election of a candidate. (2) An offence punishable under sub-section (1) shall be cognizable.