New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced Saturday that election-time seizures have reached Rs 8,889 crore, with drugs comprising 45 per cent of the total. The commission said its crackdown on inducements, and coordinated intelligence-based actions were behind the "historic spurt" in seizures.
"Election-time seizures to cross Rs.9,000 crores soon," the EC said in a press release, adding that its crackdown on inducements would continue.
Stating that drugs worth Rs 3,958 crore were recovered, which accounted for 45% of the total seizures, the commission said: "Drug seizures have been maximum. Regular follow-ups and reviews of districts and agencies in areas of expenditure monitoring, precise data interpretation and active participation of enforcement agencies have led to this significant spurt in seizures since March 1."
According to the ECI, the seizure of drugs, liquor precious metals, freebies, and cash influences elections in various ways, directly as inducements or by reducing the circulation of money.
"The Commission has laid special emphasis on the seizure of Narcotics and Psychotropic substances. Analysis of data found that states/UTs which used to be transit zones are increasingly becoming consumption territories," it said.
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Precise Intel-Based Collaborative Efforts Need Of The Hour: Rajiv Kumar
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, during a review visit, stressed the importance of precise intelligence-based collaborative efforts by agencies against drugs and narcotics. "Precise intel-based collaborative efforts by agencies against drugs and narcotics is need of the hour to root out the role of dirty money of drug trade in elections and more important and holistically, to save future of youth and thereby, country," Kumar was quoted as saying in the ECI statement.
CEC Rajiv Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, recently held meetings with the Director General of the Narcotics Control Bureau to ensure analytics-based proactive actions. The involvement of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Indian Coast Guard, state police, and other agencies was also ensured during the ongoing elections. These measures have led to significant seizures in the two months following the announcements of the polls, the ECI said.
According to the commission, seizures worth Rs 1,461.73 crore were made from Gujarat alone, followed by Rajasthan from where Rs 1,132.82 crore worth of recoveries were made.
Other states were not far behind. On April 17, the Noida police busted a drug factory in Greater Noida, and seized 26.7 kg of MDMA drug valued at Rs 150 crore. Two persons of foreign origin were arrested.