Note ban impact nil, elections are awash with cash

NEWDELHI: There has been a steep increase in seizure of cash, liquor and drugs by the Election Commission during the ongoing assembly elections as compared to five years ago, data from the poll panel show.

The cash haul alone in pollbound states has gone up three times from ₹49.70 crore in 2012 to ₹173.43 crore, contrary to the expectations of the government and the poll panel that demonetisation would reduce unacco– unted for money in circulation.

Elections to pick new state assemblies are under way in Uttar Pradesh; Manipur will go to polls on March 4 and 8; while Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand have just concluded the exercise.

The Election Commission, aided by income tax officials and state police, carry out drills to check misuse of money during elections. Inspections and raids are conducted to swoop down on freebies as well — in Goa, for instance 175 Rado watches were among goods confiscated .

Apart from cash that is used to bribe voters, the panel also keeps an eye out for political parties and candidates using liquor, drugs and ‘gifts’ to woo voters.

As per EC’s data from January 4, when the model code of conduct came into force, till February 18, the total cash seized from four states is about ₹173.43 crore. Data is yet to be collated from Manipur. Uttar Pradesh tops the list with a cash haul of ₹109.79 crore and Punjab second with ₹58.02 crore. Uttarakhand comes next with ₹3.38 crore and Goa ₹2.24 crore. The data released by the EC, however, does not identify the parties or candidates from whom the seizures were made. EC sources could not also explain why, despite the dip in available cash after the note ban in November 2016, there is no let-up in spending on liquor and drugs.

“The commission was expecting the cash seizures to come down, but there was no let up,” an official said.

The EC’s list shows UP tops the list of states with the highest liquor, drug and precious metal seizures. From liquor worth ₹6.61 lakh seized in the previous assembly poll, agencies have confiscated liquor worth ₹52.50 crore, drugs and narcotics worth ₹7.22 crore and gold and silver worth ₹25.15 crore this year.