Error while installing any package using apt-get

I was getting the following error while I tried to install any package using apt-get package manager.

For example:

Error

# apt-get install wget
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Encountered a section with no Package: header
E: Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/extra.linuxmint.com_dists_rafaela_main_i18n_Translation-en
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Fix 

# rm -vf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Then do, 

# apt-get update

Finally, I was able to install packages using apt-get 

# apt-get install wget
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done
wget is already the newest version.The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
empathy-common libfarstream-0.2-2 libfolks-telepathy25 libfolks25libgssglue1 libtelepathy-farstream3 libtelepathy-logger3 libtirpc1python-gst0.10 telepathy-logger
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 273 not upgraded.2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Setting up chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra (45.0.2454.101-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1099) ...Setting up chromium-browser (45.0.2454.101-0ubuntu0.14.04.1.1099) ...Done...