Preparations for Jharkhand and Maharashtra assembly elections are going on in full swing. Along with this, the agencies of the Election Commission are also keeping a strict vigil. In this election, the Election Commission agency has seized three times more than in 2019. Election Commission agencies have seized Rs 280 crore in Maharashtra and Rs 158 crore in Jharkhand. Liquor, drugs and precious metals have also been seized by the agencies along with cash worth Rs 558 crore.
The combined seizure in both the election states is 3.5 times more than the 2019 assembly elections. In the year 2019, Rs 103.61 crore were seized in Maharashtra and Rs 18.76 crore in Jharkhand.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has warned against any kind of inducement in the elections and the Election Commission has ordered the officials to follow ‘zero tolerance’ in this matter.
The Election Commission has formed a joint team of various agencies to stop the movement of drugs, free goods, illicit liquor, cash.
Chief Election Commission had held an important meeting
Recently, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had held a meeting with top officials of Maharashtra and Jharkhand and their neighboring states and union territories. Chief Secretaries, Excise Commissioners, Director General of Police and officials of enforcement agencies of the concerned states and union territories were present in this meeting. The Chief Election Commissioner had directed to keep strict vigil on movement on inter-state borders.
He directed the agencies to establish backward linkages of seizures for prevention. Liquor seized in Jharkhand’s Garhwa district and drug ephedrine worth Rs 1.32 crore seized by the crime branch of Akola district police.
SUVIDHA app helped in this way
Real time reporting of seizures with ECI’s Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) has led to regular and accurate review on expenditure monitoring by the Commission and agencies. Strict monitoring is also being maintained in 110 assembly constituencies of both the states, Maharashtra-91 and Jharkhand-19, which have been identified as expenditure sensitive constituencies for more focused monitoring.
Taking a strict stance against voter inducements, the Election Commission has ensured that legitimate requests from political parties are responded to in a transparent manner to ensure a level playing field. In this regard, SUVIDHA app has helped political parties and candidates a lot. 18,045 campaign requests were approved, including 8546 from Maharashtra and 6317 from Jharkhand.
