New Delhi: Agencies under the Election Commission have seized over Rs 1,000 crore comprising cash, liquor, drugs, freebies and other inducements in the ongoing elections to the State Legislative Assemblies of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and bypolls, the Election Commission office said on Monday.
According to the Election Commission's statement, seizures worth Rs 858 crore have been reported in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, seven times higher than the seizures during the 2019 assembly elections. This significant increase highlights the enhanced enforcement measures during the current election cycle.
In the 2019 Assembly elections, Maharashtra recorded seizures worth Rs 103.61 crore while for Jharkhand it was Rs 18.76 crore, it said. The Commission led by CEC Rajiv Kumar, along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, during the review meetings with enforcement agencies, central observers briefing and senior officials from neighbouring states had consistently conveyed curbing the role of money power in the elections resulting in increased volume of seizures, the statement stated.
CEC Rajiv Kumar has directed all officials, including the CEO, DEOs, SPs and observers, to continue strict watch over the next two days and curb distribution of any inducements till polling is complete.
In Maharashtra, seizures were recorded in all cohorts across all districts, much higher than in previous assembly elections. A few noteworthy operations included the seizure of Rs 3.70 crore of cash from a suspicious Jeep in the Wada Police Station area in Palghar district.
In another incident, in Jamod AC of Buldhana district, 4,500 kg of ganja plants worth Rs 4.51 crore were seized. In Raigad, Rs 5.20 crore worth of silver bars were seized, it stated.
Jharkhand also witnessed record seizures and this time focus was also to curb illicit mining activities, which resulted in seizures of illegal mining materials and machines involved. In a single incident, Rs 2.26 crore worth of illegal mining material was seized in Rajmahal AC in Sahibganj district and many such actions included seizures related to illegal mining activities. Another focus area was to have strict vigil over drug movement from neighbouring states.
In Daltonganj, 687 kg of poppy straw was seized, while in Hazaribagh 48.18 Kg of marijuana was seized, it added. Even in by-elections, tightened vigil has resulted in significant seizures in all cohorts.
Amongst big seizure incidents, in Rajasthan, 449 cartons of liquor consignment were seized at Nagaur while in transit from one neighbouring state to another. The cartons were hidden behind many layers of boxes of potatoes, it added.
