A day before polling for Telangana Assembly elections, the cumulative seizure of cash, gold, liquor and freebies in the state mounted to Rs 745 crore. This is said to be the highest seizure among all the states which went to polls this month.
The enforcement agencies seized cash, precious metals, liquor and other items worth Rs. 8.07 crore in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative figure to Rs 745.37 crore since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect on October 9.
In the 2018 elections, the total seizure of cash, liquor and other items was only Rs.103.89 crore. During the 24-hour period ending 9 AM on November 29, the agencies seized Rs.3.78 crore in cash. With this the seized cash since October 9 has gone up to Rs.305.72 crore.
The agencies also seized Rs.2.66 crore worth of liquor during the 24-hour period. With this the overall value of liquor seized so far has mounted to Rs.127.55 crore. The authorities have seized more than 2.63 lakh litres of liquor.
The enforcement agencies seized narcotics worth Rs. 27.94 lakh during the last 24 hours. They have so far seized drugs/narcotics worth Rs. 40.14 crore. The seized material includes 10,086 kg Ganja.
The cumulative value of the seized gold, silver, diamonds etc has risen to Rs. 187 crore. This includes 303 kg gold, 1,195 kg silver and 19,297 Carat diamonds.
Since the MCC came into force, the authorities have seized various other items worth Rs.84.94 crore reportedly meant for distribution among voters as freebies.
The seized items include 2.98 lakh kgs rice, 9,207 cookers, 89,329 sarees, seven two-wheelers, ten four-wheelers, 18,566 clocks and 72,473 mobile phones.
With a few hours to go for polling, the enforcement agencies and flying squads of the Election Commission were keeping a tight vigil in all 119 constituencies.
Leaders of rival parties have accused each other of distributing cash, liquor and freebies among voters. At a few places, they staged protests demanding action against those trying to lure the voters.