Poll inducements worth Rs 11.65 crore seized in state

NT NEWORK

Panaji

The seizure report of the Election Commission of India  has said that a total of Rs 11.65 crore worth cash, liquor, narcotics and other items have been seized in the state in the run-up to elections to the parliamentary elections and the bypolls to three  assembly segments to be held on Tuesday.

The report containing information of all the 36 states going for Lok Sabha elections has said that various enforcement agencies in the state seized cash worth Rs 2.97 crore, liquor worth  Rs 8.35 crore and drugs and narcotics valued at Rs 0.32 crore, all totalling Rs 11.65 crore.

No precious metals were found in the state, while the seizure of freebies such as goods and appliances is negligible, the report has said.

Comparison between states show Goa’s seizures are high compared to Himachal Pradesh (Rs 7.8 crore), Odisha (Rs 7.4 crore), Uttarakhand (Rs 7.3 crore)  and Bihar (Rs 7.9 crore) which are bigger in size as well as population.

A staggering Rs 3119 crore have been seized from across India since elections were announced on March 10 –  cash worth Rs 730 crore, liquor valued at Rs 234.9 crore, drugs and narcotics worth  Rs 1169 crore and freebies valued at Rs 47 crore.

Seizures in Tamil Nadu are the highest at over Rs 900 crore, followed by Gujarat at Rs 545 crore and Delhi at Rs 395 crore.

The EC has deployed hundreds of general observers, expenditure observers and static and mobile surveillance teams across the country to keep a check on the flow of black money and  inducements to ensure free and fair polls.

In Goa, government departments like excise, commercial tax, the police and income-tax have deployed flying squads to check the use of inducements to influence voters in addition to observers deputed from the Centre.