In U’khand, seizures double from ’19 polls

EC SAID THAT THE RECOVERIES MADE IN THIS ELECTIONS IS DOUBLE OF WHAT IT SEIZED DURING THE 2019 LS POLLS. FIVE YEARS AGO, IT MADE SEIZURES WORTH ₹7.31 CR

DEHRADUN: The Election Commission, through various enforcement agencies, has so far made seizures of over ₹16 crore in the state in the ongoing Lok Sabha election, officials familiar to the matter said on Tuesday.

They said that these recoveries, made between March 16 and April 15, include ₹5.70 crore cash, liquor worth ₹2.94 crore, narcotics worth ₹3.99 crore, and precious metal and freebies worth ₹3.42 crore. It is more than double of what the poll body seized in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they said.

During 2019 election, the EC had seized ₹7.31 crore that included ₹ 3.39 crore cash, ₹ 2.90 crore of liquor, ₹77 lakh of narcotics, and ₹25 lakh of precious metal and freebies.

According to the poll body officials, the implementation of election seizure management system (ESMS) led to a rise in the recoveries in this elections. The ESMS is a distinctive techThe nology platform that facilitates real-time sharing of information among approximately 20 enforcement agencies, including departments like police, forest, banks, transport, IncomeTax, excise, railways, airports, and various state and central government entities, regarding their election-related activities.

Uttarakhand chief electoral officer (CEO) BVRC Purushottam said, “We have seized around ₹16 crore in the form of cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other items so far. In the 2019 last election, we made recoveries worth ₹7.31 crore. coordination among enforcement agencies facilitated by the election seizure management system (ESMS), which has been implemented in the ongoing election, is the key reason behind a spike in recoveries. Earlier, there was duplication of the data shared by different agencies.”

He said, “We have also increased the surveillance with the constitution of more teams compared to the 2019 elections.”

Over 83 lakh voters from Uttarakhand’s five Lok Sabha seats will cast their vote on April 19. The state has over 83.21 lakh (8.3 million) voters including 43.08 lakh (4.3 million) male voters, 40.12 lakh (4.01 million) female voters, 1.45 lakh (145,000) young voters, over 79,900 physically challenged voters, over 65,000 voters with age 85 plus and 297 voters under the third gender category. The number of polling stations in the state is 11,729, while the number of service voters is 93,357. In Uttarakhand, the voter turnout generally remains low.