Ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi has seized a huge cache of illegal liquor, which could possibly be used to woo party workers and influence voters. In one of the major crackdowns in recent times, a total of 8,552 litres of illicit liquor, including countrymade and IMFl, has been seized during raids conducted across the city.
According to officials, 1,226.7 litres of country liquor and 87 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFl) have been seized from various districts here since the Model Code of Conduct came into force on October 4.
“large amount of country liquor and IMFl has been seized by our flying squads. We can’t say who these people actually are and whether or not they belong to the crucial parties, at this point. Investigations are on and we’ll figure out soon,” said Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev and Chief Nodal Officer Ankur Garg, while addressing a media gathering at the CEO office on Monday.
As per official data, as many as 1,806 bottles of country liquor and 776 of IMFl have been confiscated. Besides liquor, the flying squads of the CEO are clamping down on people with illegal possession of arms and explosives. The CEO informed that so far 7,708 persons have been booked and bound down under various Sections, including 107 and 116 of CrPC and Defacement of Property Act. “As many as 13 cartridges have been seized and 920 licenced arms owners have been booked. Further action will be taken soon,” said officials.
“The flying squads are doing a great job and we hope to continue such activities to ensure peaceful elections in the Capital,” added Garg. There are 210 flying squad teams divided equally among all 70 constituencies. Each team is headed by an Executive Magistrate and has senior police officers, junior engineers and constables, and is divided equally among all the 70 constituencies.
Since the day the CEO announced the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for all the political parties, as many as 313 FIRs have been registered against the parties till date and a total of 5,418 hoardings have been removed from public property for violating the DP Act.