NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday said that seizures in the ongoing elections to the State Legislative Assemblies of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and bypolls have crossed the Rs 1000 crore mark.
The total value of seizures which included cash, liquor, drugs, freebies and other inducements amounted to Rs 1082.2 crore.
Overall, Rs 858 crore worth of seizures have been reported from the states of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, which is 7 times the seizures done during the Assembly elections in 2019. In the 2019 Assembly elections, Maharashtra recorded seizures worth Rs 103.61 crore while for Jharkhand it was Rs 18.76 crore.
The Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and 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.
CEC Rajiv Kumar has directed all officials including the Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officers, 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 the 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 noteworthy incident, in Jamod Assembly Constituency of Buldhana district, 4500 kg of ganja plants worth Rs 4.51 crore were seized. In Raigad, Rs 5.20 crore worth of silver bars were seized.
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 Assembly Constituency in Sahibganj district and many such actions included seizures related to illegal mining activities. Another focus area was to have strict vigil over drugs movement from neighbouring states. In Daltonganj, 687 kg of poppy straw was seized, while in Hazaribagh 48.18 kg of marijuana was seized.
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.