Flood of bucks and booze in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh:

In Gujarat, where elections were announced just a week ago, the seizures have already exceeded those during previous polls

Pheroze L. Vincent   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |   12.11.22 : The seizures of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies ahead of the Himachal Pradesh elections have been five times the haul in the previous Assembly polls in 2017.

In Gujarat, where elections were announced just a week ago, the seizures have already exceeded those during previous polls and include toys worth Rs 64 crore.

Although the values of seizures are expected to increase with inflation, the figures since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls have been striking. Coordination between several agencies and the use of computerised data on the movement of goods and withdrawals of cash have also contributed to this increase.

The Election Commission of India (EC) said in a statement on Friday: “As a drive, the results are encouraging with Gujarat witnessing seizures of Rs 71.88 crores in just a few days of announcement of elections which surpasses even the seizures made in the entire duration of enforcement of Model Code of Conduct..., 2017, which was Rs 27.21 crores. Similarly, the seizures in Himachal Pradesh are also significant amounting to Rs 50.28 crores as compared to Rs 9.03 crores, marking more than five-fold increase.”

While BJP-ruled Himachal is still far behind Tamil Nadu where Rs 446.28 crore was seized in the previous Assembly polls, the huge one-time hauls — for example Rs 2 crore from an SUV in Nurpur on the border with Punjab last month — have been unprecedented for the hill state.

Most of Gujarat’s haul came from a single seizure of toys. The EC said: “Directorate of Revenue Intelligence also reported massive seizure amounting to Rs 64 crores of toys and accessories which were being smuggled by way of mis-declaration and by resorting to concealment in import cargo at Mundra Port. Two persons including the mastermind have been arrested in the case and further investigation is under progress.”

Not everything that is seized during elections is meant for bribery. Some relate to smuggling or bootlegging rackets that get caught because of increased vigil in the run-up to polls. Although a dry state, Gujarat has witnessed the seizures of almost 1.1 lakh litres of liquor, worth Rs 3.86 crore, within a week of the polls being declared.

The EC statement added: “Even in bye-elections, 2022, in seven Assembly constituencies in states of Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, in which polling concluded yesterday, significant seizures of Rs 9.35 crore was made. Record seizures were made in highly expenditure-sensitive Munugode Assembly Constituency of Telangana where significant amount of cash amounting to Rs 6.6 crore along with thousands of litres of liquor, Rs 1.78 crore of precious metals have been seized which marks increasing focus on expenditure-monitoring process by the commission to curb menace of money power in elections.”