Assembly Elections 2023: Law enforcement agencies have seized cash, liquor and freebies worth Rs 1,760 crore amid the ongoing assembly elections in 5 states. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), this amount is 7 times more than the items seized before the 2018 assembly elections.
The Election Commission on Monday (November 20) said that freebies, drugs, cash, liquor and precious metals worth more than Rs 1,760 crore have been seized so far in five states for the purpose of luring voters.
7 times more seizures than in 2018
According to PTI, the Election Commission said, “This seizure has been made after the announcement of election dates in 5 states on October 9. This amount is seven times more than the seizure made in the previous assembly elections in the same states in 2018. Rs 239.15 crore were seized here.
Voting pending in Telangana-Rajasthan
So far, voting has taken place in 3 out of 5 states. These include Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, while voting is to be held in Rajasthan on 25 November and Telangana on 30 November. According to a statement by the Election Commission, more than Rs 1,400 crore was seized in the assembly elections held earlier in six states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Karnataka.
According to Hindustan Times, maximum items worth Rs 659.2 crore have been seized in Telangana. After this is Rajasthan, where goods worth Rs 650.7 crore were seized.
‘Election Commission’s emphasis on inducement-free elections’
In the matter, an Election Commission official said that while announcing the election schedule for 5 states, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had emphasized on inducement-free elections. The official said that this time the Commission has also included technology in the monitoring process through the Election Expenditure Monitoring System (ESMS).
Let us tell you that the Election Commission has deployed 228 officers to monitor the election expenses. Apart from this, the Commission has identified 194 assembly constituencies as expenditure sensitive seats.
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