EC cracks down on money power, 58cr seizures in past mth

BENGALURU: Misuse of money power is one of the key challenges in Karnataka, CEC Rajiv Kumar said while announcing the poll schedule. In all, cash, liquor, goods and drugs worth Rs 57.7 crore have been seized in the past month in Karnataka. This time, 4,880 enforcement teams will be at work, against 4,147 in 2018.
EC cracks down on money power, 58cr seizures in past month
Announcing the Karnataka assembly polls, the Election Commission of India highlighted on Wednesday the rampant misuse of money power by parties to entice voters across the state.
"Misuse of money power is one of the key challenges in Karnataka and the ECI has brought in appropriate initiatives to curb it," Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said at a press conference in New Delhi.
The CEC said the commission is trying its best to ensure inducement-free elections, and that in recent polls in different parts of the country materials worth about Rs 1,028 crore were seized. "These include cash, liquor, freebies and drugs. We are emphasising on drugs because they will spoil not only youngsters but demoralise the entire society," Kumar said.
Recalling his directions to enforcement officials in Karnataka during his visit to assess poll preparedness, Kumar said having tackled muscle power, containing the misuse of money power is now their focus. "We told the officials not to wait until the announcement of the model code of conduct but to crack down on such blatant misuse of power under various provisions of the IPC. Since then, officials have seized materials worth crores of rupees, including drugs. This is more than what was seized in the previous election," he said.
The cumulative worth of seizures by poll officials in Karnataka in the past one month is around Rs 57.7 crore. Data accessed from the ECI revealed that Karnataka police seized drugs weighing 530kg (worth Rs 2.7 crore) and 179 FIRs were registered in this connection. Official sources revealed that in most cases these drugs were meant for distribution among young voters. "We are still investigating the origin," a senior EC official said. This apart, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized drugs worth Rs 57 lakh and the excise department seized narcotics weighing 43kg (worth Rs 6.8 crore). The seizures include ganja, heroin, hashish oil, MDMA tablets, and other synthetic drugs.
Karnataka chief electoral officer Manoj Kumar Meena said they have strengthened enforcement teams to curb the misuse of money power. "While in 2018 we had 4,147 teams, currently we have deployed about 4,880. We have increased the number of static surveillance teams and flying squads."