Assembly Elections 2021 | Cash, other freebies seizures top ₹1,000 crore
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The Election Commission on Friday mentioned it had seized money, liquor, medication, valuable metals and other freebies value ₹1,001.43 crore meant for distribution to voters within the ongoing Assembly elections.
“Seizures crossed ₹1,000 crore for the first time in any Assembly electoral process,” the EC mentioned in a press release.
Of the overall seizures as on Thursday in Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and the States the place byelections are being performed, Tamil Nadu topped the tally with seizures of ₹446.28 crore.
It was adopted by ₹300.11 crore in West Bengal, ₹122.34 crore in Assam, ₹84.91 crore in Kerala and ₹36.95 crore in Puducherry. A complete of ₹10.84 crore was seized in reference to the varied by-polls. In 2016 for the 5 Assembly elections, the overall seizures had been ₹225.77 crore.
When requested about FIRs filed towards these concerned and particulars of political events and people concerned, an EC spokesperson didn’t reply.
According to Association for Democratic Reforms founder Jagdeep S. Chhokar, the EC could not essentially know which events are accountable. When the EC catches money or other freebies being transported, they seize the gadgets.
“They should confiscate the vehicles and file FIRs,” he mentioned.
Out of the overall money of ₹344.85 crore seized, ₹236.69 crore was from Tamil Nadu, ₹50.71 crore from West Bengal, ₹27.09 crore from Assam, ₹22.88 crore from Kerala and ₹5.52 crore from Puducherry. West Bengal and Assam accounted for almost all of liquor seized, with ₹30.11 crore and ₹41.97 crore of the overall liquor value ₹85.01 crore seized respectively.
Out of the ₹161.60 crore value of medicine seized, ₹118.83 crore was from West Bengal, with Assam in second place with ₹34.41 crore. Tamil Nadu accounted for a lot of the valuable metals seized value ₹176.46 crore out of the overall of ₹270.80 crore, whereas Kerala accounted for ₹50.86 crore, a distant second.
“The stupendous rise in seizure figures is because of better preparedness and multi-pronged strategy of the Commission… For effective monitoring, Commission has appointed five Special Expenditure Observers,” the EC mentioned.
It added that the drive towards the “menace of money power” would proceed for the remaining phases of the elections. While polling within the other States and UT is full, West Bengal is about to have 4 extra phases earlier than votes in all of the Assembly elections are counted on May 2.
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