Illegal liquor, drugs, cash seizure surpass Rs 100 crore as Bihar elections, Assembly bypolls approach

New Delhi: Seizure of illicit inducements during campaigning in Bihar and eight Assembly constituencies in seven states and union territories have crossed Rs 100 crore mark in 28 days after elections were declared, with liquor topping the list.

The Election Commission said illicit inducements valued at Rs 108.19 crore have been seized between October 6, the day the polls were announced, and November 3.

According to the poll body, 9.6 lakh litre liquor worth Rs 42.14 crore, drugs worth Rs. 24.61 crore, Rs 9.62 crore in cash, precious metals worth Rs. 5.8 crores and other freebies worth over Rs 26 crore have been seized through a coordinated approach involving multi-enforcement agencies across different states and union territories.

The EC has directed the states and union territory governments to ensure strict compliance with the instructions to enforce the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). In Bihar, 824 flying squads have been deployed to ensure that the complaints reported on C-VIGIL are attended to within 100 minutes.

It had asked all enforcement authorities to strictly monitor and combat movement of cash, drugs, liquor and other inducements during elections.

The poll body stressed that the enforcement authorities should ensure that ordinary citizens are not inconvenienced or harassed during the checking and inspection for the enforcement of these directives.

"Citizens/political parties can report MCC violations using the C-Vigil App on ECINET. A complaint monitoring system has been set up including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaints can be lodged by any member of the public or political party, with the DEO/RO concerned. This system is operational 24X7," the EC added.