The Election Commission on Thursday said that over Rs 408.8 crore worth of illicit inducements have been seized over the past month ahead of Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.
The seized illicit inducements included Rs 17.4 crore in cash, liquor worth Rs 37.6 crore, drugs worth Rs 167.3 crore, precious metals worth Rs 23 crore and other freebies worth over Rs 163.3 crore, the poll panel said.
The poll panel also said that it held a meeting on March 24 with the heads of enforcement agencies, along with the chief secretaries, chief electoral officers, directors general of police and other officials from the five poll-bound states and Union Territories, as well as their 12 bordering states and Union Territories, to review readiness and enhance coordination.
The officials were directed to ensure “violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement-free elections”, the Election Commission said in a press note.
The Election Commission further said that 70,944 complaints had been lodged between March 15 and March 25 using the C-Vigil app in the poll-bound states and Union Territories. Of these, 70,831 had been disposed of and 67,899 complaints, or 95.8%, were resolved within 100 minutes.
The app allows users to send geo-tagged videos and images of any violations seen during elections.
Assembly elections will be held in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on April 9, and and in Tamil Nadu on April 23. West Bengal will vote in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The results in all states will be announced on May 4.
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