New Delhi, April 5 – Election flying squads and enforcement agencies in West Bengal have seized a total of ₹319 crore worth of cash, liquor, and other freebies until Sunday, an official said.
Among the five states/UTs going to polls, West Bengal tops the list in terms of recovery of freebies (₹150 crore), liquor (₹55 crore), precious metals (₹39 crore), and cash (₹11 crore), which were allegedly being used to influence voters.
Law enforcement agencies in the state have recovered drugs valued at ₹65 crore in the run-up to the two-phase elections on April 23 and 29, according to the ECI statement.
Of the 29.63 lakh litres of liquor seized by poll officials in all five states/UTs, West Bengal accounts for the maximum at 21.29 lakh litres, according to the ECI.
In Assam, the ECI said that flying squads and surveillance teams have seized ₹4 crore in cash in the state in the run-up to the election.
In addition to cash, 6,84,627 litres of liquor, worth ₹20 crore, has also been confiscated in Assam.
The ECI said that drugs worth ₹56 crore, precious metals worth ₹4 crore, and other freebies valued at ₹13 crore have been seized in Assam until April 5.
The total value of freebies and contraband recovered in Assam so far is ₹97 crore, according to the ECI.
In Tamil Nadu, the total seizures have been worth ₹170. This included a seizure of ₹67 crore worth of drugs, ₹63 crore worth of other freebies, ₹30 crore in cash, ₹8 crore in precious metals, and ₹2 crore in liquor.
In Kerala, the ECI has recovered a total of ₹58 crore worth of inducement items. This includes ₹41 crore worth of drugs, ₹8 crore in cash, ₹5 crore worth of other freebies, ₹2 crore in liquor, and ₹1 crore in precious metals.
In Puducherry, the recovery is worth ₹7 crore, including ₹6 crore in precious metals, ₹20 lakh in cash, ₹30 lakh in liquor, and other freebies worth ₹1 lakh.
In all, the enforcement agencies have seized illegal cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals, and freebies worth more than ₹651.5 crore from all the five election-bound states.
To ensure violence-free, intimidation-free, and inducement-free elections, the ECI has deployed 5,173 flying squads across the States/UTs to ensure that complaints are addressed within 100 minutes.
In addition, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise pickets at different locations, the ECI said.