A total of 466 officials involved in a high-profile election scandal in Hunan province have been punished, according to an official statement released on Tuesday.

The officials, including 18 at prefecture level and 139 at county level, were found to be responsible for the election scandal that triggered public outrage last year, according to the statement from the Communist Party of China Hunan provincial committee.

The incident was revealed on Dec 28 when the provincial legislature disqualified 56 provincial legislators for buying votes and announced that more than 500 lawmakers in the city had been disqualified, dismissed or had resigned.

An investigation showed that the 56 provincial legislators offered 110 million yuan ($17.65 million) in bribes to 518 municipal lawmakers and another 68 staff.