 "Tamil Nadu Assembly polls: Over Rs 40 crore seized by election observers")
Over Rs 40 crore have been seized in Tamil Nadu by various expenditure monitoring teams after announcement of elections in March 2016.
Tamil Nadu Election Commission said that with a view to curb use of black money and likely inducement of Voters in the Assembly Election, 2016, comprehensive instructions have been issued by the commission, which include formation of flying squads, static surveillance teams (SSTs), video surveillance teams, with involvement of police and other agencies such as Investigation Directorates of Income Tax Department, Customs etc.
State Excise Departments and police authorities have been asked to monitor production, distribution, sale and storage of liquor and other intoxicants during the election process.
702 flying squads have been deployed in the state from the date of announcement of the elections.Additionally, 712 Static surveillance teams have also been deployed in all constituencies.
The Election Commission of India has taken several proactive steps and has involved different enforcement agencies, including the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department, which have made elaborate arrangements across the state for taking prompt action, including conduct of search and seizure operations.
On April 22, 2016, the Income Tax Investigation Wing in Tamil Nadu carried out search and seizure operations in and around Chennai. The search based on intelligence developed by the investigation wing has resulted in seizure of around Rs 5.2 crore cash.
The money seized was not related to normal business activity of the group and major part of it is suspected to be linked with hawala operations and was likely to be used in the upcoming election in Tamil Nadu.
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On the same day, based on a tip-off, the investigation wing also conducted a search at Karur District in Tamil Nadu and recovered Rs 4.77 crore in cash.
Goods worth over one crore rupees in the form of dhotis and sarees etc, suspected to be used for inducement of voters, were found in the premise and the same has been placed under restraint.
In addition, the flying squad in Coimbatore South Assembly constituency seized an amount of Rupees 1.35 crore in the morning of April 22 from two passengers travelling by an interstate bus, who were carrying the cash without any supporting advance.
Prior to this, an amount of Rupees 35.66 crore had been seized in Tamil Nadu by various expenditure monitoring teams after announcement of elections in March 2016.
The commission has further strengthened its strategy for dealing with the misuse of money in the elections. This, inter alia, involves increase in the number of flying Squads and SSTs, inclusion of officials from the central government and central public sector units in the flying squad teams, deployment of Central Police Forces personnel, including in the flying squads etc. Teams of special observers have been deployed in the state to review the preparedness.
Further, the number of expenditure observers has been increased several times. Probationary officers of the Indian Police Service will also be deployed in each district to actively participate in expenditure monitoring and operation of the flying squads.