About five officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were yesterday arrested during the rerun election in Imo State for mass thumb printing of ballot papers.

The electoral officials were arrested in some of the polling units in Umuma Primary School in Oru East local government on the orders of Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of INEC in Edo State, who was one of the senior officials of the commission deployed to supervise the rerun polls in Imo State.

Igini said that the officials were caught mass thumb printing ballot papers in favour of one of the candidates in the governorship poll and that they had been arrested by the police and taken to Owerri, the state capital.

The arrests were confirmed later by the Imo State Resident Commissioner, Gabriel Ada, who said the INEC officials colluded with the agents of a political party to thumb print ballot papers in favour of a candidate.

Ada did not mention the political party in whose favour the ballot papers were being thumb printed or whether the party agents too were arrested.