More than Rs 69 crore of illegal cash has been seized in five states across the country which are either poll-bound or where elections are underway, with Tamil Nadu leading the tally of seizures at Rs 30.22 crore.
Election Commission-appointed surveillance teams are still seizing illegal cash and other inducements as part of their mandate to curb use of these items which act to disturb the level-playing field of free and fair elections.
While the two-phased Assembly polls has concluded in Assam, in West Bengal the third phase of the elections ended today.
As per the latest figure of cash seizures, Tamil Nadu is followed by West Bengal where EC teams have seized Rs 13.92 crore, followed by Rs 12.33 crore in Assam.
In Kerala, the seizure is worth about Rs 11.95 crore and the corresponding figure for Puducherry is about Rs 70.98 lakh, as per the latest EC data.
"The total progressive figure of seizures made till now is about Rs 69.13 crore. Some cash has been released after seizures in West Bengal and the figures have been compiled after excluding that," a senior official said.
All the seizures have been made by EC-appointed special flying squads and surveillance teams and by officials drawn from the Income-Tax Department.
The Model Code of Conduct for these polls came into force on March 4 after the Commission announced the schedule for the Assembly polls in the five states.
Elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will be held in a single phase on May 16.
Election Commission, as part of its measures to curb the use of black money in the polls, has deployed expenditure observers drawn from central revenue services like Income-Tax, Customs and Excise departments and those from other central services with the assistance of state enforcement agencies.
To keep a tab on huge cash expenditure during polls, it has also asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Customs and Excise Department and state police units to keep a strict vigil on all sorts of illegal inducements being used to disturb the level playing field.
