Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for 14 former and current members of a minor progressive party on Wednesday on charges of illegally casting votes in the leftist party‘s scandal-ridden election in April to select candidates for proportional representation seats.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said they applied for court-issued warrants to arrest four members of the Unified Progressive Party, with two other regional prosecution offices seeking warrants for 10 other party members. Courts for each region are expected to decide on the issuance of the warrants late Wednesday.

During the party‘s election to pick candidates for proportional representation seats ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections on April 11, the former party members allegedly borrowed other party members‘ identification numbers to illegally cast their votes, in addition to their own, the prosecution said.

The accused were found to have cast multiple votes or to have played major roles in the rigging of the election, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors previously said the minor opposition party’s April election was severely manipulated with some party members illegitimately casting several votes for certain candidates.

Two lawmakers -- Lee Seok-ki and Kim Jae-yeon -- have long been accused of unfairly winning their proportional representation seats during the party‘s rigged election.

Lee was indicted earlier this month on charges of illegally inflating his election campaign costs in order to win more state funds earmarked to reimburse campaign expenses of elected lawmakers. (Yonhap News)