West Bengal panchayat polls: Candidate's husband runs away with ballot box; nabbed by cops

Counting of votes began on July 11 after a violence-ridden voting process.

A screengrab from a video showing the cops nabbing the accused. Credit: Twitter/@ANI

Counting of votes in the West Bengal panchayat elections took a bizarre turn on Tuesday when the husband of a candidate allegedly attempted to make a dash for the woods with a ballot box.

According to news agency ANI, counting was under way at a counting centre in the Sovanagar gram panchayat in Malda when chaos ensued.

A video shared online showed panicked locals pointing towards an unknown miscreant.

Moments later, cops were seen chasing after the accused, who had made a dash with a ballot box.

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After a brief chase through a crowded pandal, the accused was nabbed and caned by cops, thereby bringing the episode to an end.

West Bengal voted on July 8 but the voting process was marred by widespread violence which left at least 15 dead.

Taking into account the myriad complaints regarding lapses in the voting process, the State Election Commission (SEC) ordered repolling in 696 booths in the state on July 10.

Counting of votes began on Tuesday morning and is likely to go on throughout the day.