Marthandam police have arrested a person for allegedly facilitating torching of ballots polled in the Vettuvenni Apiculturists Cooperative Society election.

When nominations for the society election were scrutinised in April, nomination of a candidate belonging to one of two groups in the fray was rejected. The affected contestant approached the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. It ordered that ballot boxes used in the election should be sealed and kept in a strong room. But a mob broke its main door on Sunday, ransacked the boxes, burnt ballots and poll related documents.

Police, who registered a case, found that one of the groups in the battle of ballots orchestrated the attack with the help of Sam Christopher Das, 52, a junior assistant of Vettuvenni Society from Munsirai. He was arrested later.