Seized contraband, cash worth ₹1,760 crore in 5 states ahead of polls: ECI

Law enforcement agencies have seized cash, liquor, and freebies worth ₹1,760 crore in the run-up to state elections in five states, more than seven times the value of seizures ahead of the 2018 assembly elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said in a statement on Monday.

The statement attributed the “significant and exponential increase in seizures in the five poll-going states of Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana” to the ECI’s persistent efforts. It also underlined that these statistics demonstrate ECI’s “unwavering commitment to ensuring free, fair and inducement-free elections by implementing robust measures to monitor inducements and curb electoral malpractices for a level playing field.

Ahead of the 2018 elections, contraband worth ₹239.15 crore was seized by the agencies.

Telangana, which is due to vote on November 30, reported the highest seizures worth ₹659.2 crore, followed closely by Rajasthan ( ₹650.7 crore), which will vote on November 25.

Mizoram, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have already voted while Rajasthan and Telangana are scheduled to vote in a single phase on November 25 and 30, respectively. The model code of conduct stays in force till the conclusion of the election process with the announcement of the results on December 3.

Madhya Pradesh was third with a total seizure of Rs. 323.7 crore. The seizure in Chattisgarh was reported at Rs. 76.9 crore and in Mizoram, Rs. 49.6 crore.

This time, the commission has also embedded technology into the monitoring process through the Election Expenditure Monitoring System (ESMS) which is proving to be a catalyst, as it brought a wide array of central and state enforcement agencies together for better coordination and intelligence-sharing, the statement said.