West Bengal: EC seizes Rs 650 crore in cash, drugs ahead of elections

The Election Commission said authorities have seized over Rs 650 crore in cash, drugs, and liquor across poll-bound states and Puducherry. Surveillance teams and flying squads have been deployed extensively to prevent voter bribery ahead of upcoming elections

New Delhi: Enforcement authorities across the four poll-going states and Puducherry have seized over Rs 650 crore worth of illicit cash, drugs and liquor meant to allure voters, the Election Commission said on Sunday.

According to data shared by the poll authority, Rs 319 crore of illicit cash, drugs, liquor and valuable metals have been seized from West Bengal, followed by Rs 170 crore in Tamil Nadu.

---

Over 5,173 flying squads have been deployed to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes.

Besides this, over 5,200 static surveillance teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise nakas (broadly, barricades) at different locations, the poll authority said.

While Kerala, Assam and Puducherry go to the polls on April 9, voting in West Bengal will be in two phases on April 23 and 29. Tamil Nadu will have assembly polls in a single phase on April 23.

Assembly bypolls will also be held in eight seats across six states on April 9 and 23.

The data, EC said, has been collated from the Electronic Seizure Management System.

While assembly elections and by-elections were announced on March 15, the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) was activated on February 26.