I-T seizure up six times compared to 2013 polls

Ahead of the polling for the Assembly elections on May 12, the Income Tax department on Thursday said that at Rs 37.33 crore, it has seized six times more cash and jewellery in the state compared to the 2013 polls.

“From the beginning of the code of conduct period on March 27 to till date, the department has seized unaccounted cash of Rs 31.50 crore and unexplained jewellery worth Rs 5.83 crore. This is nearly six times the seizure made by the department in the last state assembly election in 2013,” the department said in a statement.

“The seizures are likely to further go up in the last days of electioneering,” it added.

During the elections in 2013, Rs 4.97 crore of cash and jewellery worth Rs 3.41 crore were seized by these agencies during the “entire” campaign period, it had said earlier. In the present Assembly elections, the department said, it has been “able to unearth incriminating evidence of the entire process of misuse of money power right from raising unaccounted funds to the distribution of cash and freebies by the contesting candidates.”

This has been shared with the Election Commission (EC), district election officers and CEO Karnataka for necessary action under the Representation of People Act, the press release stated.

It said that the affidavits filed by the contesting candidates are also being verified with returns of income filed by them and their family members.