Over Rs83 crore cash, 7 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs12.65 crore, and narcotics valued at Rs10.30 crore have been seized, maximum from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, by Election Commission of India (ECI)-appointed surveillance and expenditure monitoring teams in the five poll-bound States.
As per official data compiled till Saturday , UP has witnessed the maximum seizure of Rs79.13 crore (Rs31.65 lakh in old notes) followed by Rs4.05 crore from Punjab, Rs33.27 lakh in Uttarakhand and Rs6.95 lakh in Manipur. In other illegal inducements suspected to be used to lure voters in these states, a whopping 7.36 lakh litres of liquor and over 500 bottles of canned beer worth Rs12.65 crore has been seized by ECI- appointed police and state excise teams in these states.
In UP, these seizures were recorded at 3.95 lakh litres worth Rs10.7 crore followed by 3,09,351 litres spirits worth Rs1.14 crore seized in Punjab, over 25,907 litres worth Rs72.91 lakh in Uttarakhand, 4,605 litres worth Rs7.5 lakh in Manipur and beer and other hard spirits worth Rs1.35 lakh in Goa.
Drug seizures by the anti-narcotics agencies and police teams was seen maximum in Punjab as the total haul was recorded at 1,485 kg valued at Rs10.30 crore, with Punjab accounting for 1,134 kgs worth Rs9.06 crore followed by Rs286.65 kg worth Rs83.58 lakh seized in UP, Rs17.22 lakh in Goa, Rs15.36 lakh in Uttarakhand and Rs7.62 lakh in Manipur.
Officials said a total of “Rs83.58 crore in cash, about 7.36 lakh litres of liquor along with 525 bottles of beer worth Rs12.65 crore and an estimated Rs10.30 crore worth narcotics have been seized in the five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, till data recorded upto January 18.”
The EC has appointed about 200 election expenditure observers apart from other central observers to keep a check on black money and illegal inducements used to bribe voters at the hustings in these states. The Assembly elections in these five States will be held between February 4 and March 8. Counting of votes for all states will take place on March 11.