EC seizes ₹1.67 crore cash, 8.8 lakh litres liquor ahead of polls

NEWDELHI: The Election Commission (EC) has seized over ₹1.67 crore in cash, including foreign currencies, precious metal worth over ₹8 crore, and 8.8 lakh litres of liquor in poll-bound Gujarat that has a strict prohibition law in place for almost six decades.

The poll panel’s data shows its agencies have confiscated over £3,000 and 30,000 Thai baht from Navsari and Bardoli in Gujarat from money exchange dealers.

The 182-member Gujarat assembly will go to polls in two phases on December 9 and 14.

An official of the expenditure monitoring committee told the Hindustan Times there is no evidence so far that the foreign currency seized has any direct link to any political party or candidate.

“In Navsari, ₹20 lakh in Indian currency and nearly £3,500 were seized from a man who claims to run a money exchange outlet. He claimed that it was the money that was exchanged by individuals but the case has been referred to the income tax department for further investigation,” the official said.

The western state has seen a spurt in the seizure of liquor and cash ahead of the polls.

There were no cases of foreign currency hauls in any of the recently concluded assembly polls, according to Election Commission officials.

Officials seized ₹2.18 crore during the 2012 assembly election and the cash seizure till Tuesday was ₹1.67 crore.

The amount of liquor that has been seized has also gone up significantly from ₹1.57 crore worth of alcohol in the last assembly poll to liquor worth ₹20 crore this time.

Earlier this week, agencies came upon Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) worth ₹2.2 crore. The police seized 75,968 bottles of IMFL intended for distribution ahead of the polls from a building taken on rent by a resident of UP under the pretext of running a metal scrap business.

Distribution of cash, liquor, household items, jewellery and narcotics for the purpose of impacting election outcome is prohibited.