Lok Sabha Polls: Cash, Liquor, Drugs Worth Rs 95 Crore Seized in Jammu and Kashmir

Srinagar: Election authorities in Jammu and Kashmir seized about Rs 95 crore worth of cash and other freebies like liquor that were meant for influencing the minds of voters during the staggered elections to five Lok Sabha seats in the Union territory.

The polling in Jammu and Kashmir was completed on Saturday as Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency voted for their candidates.

While the voter turnout in the three constituencies of Kashmir has broken decades-old records, attempts were made by some candidates to influence the voters across the union territory using money, liquor and other freebies, officials of the election department said here.

"From the date of announcement of elections to the Lok Sabha, we have so far seized material and cash with a total value of Rs 94.797 crore," the officials said.

Police played the most active role in checking the use of money and freebies as it accounted for Rs 90.83 crore seized during the campaign, they said.

"Cash, liquor, drugs and other freebies have been seized by various enforcement departments. Major department-wise seizures included seizures by the police department valuing Rs 90.831 crore, Income Tax department 42 lakh, excise department 1.01 crore and Narcotics Control Bureau has seized drugs worth 2.32 crore respectively," the officials added.

In an effort to ensure a level playing field to all contestants, the authorities took action against over 40 government employees who were allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct.

Election authorities received 143 grievances on CVIGIL app out of which over 80 have been resolved while the remaining are under the process of resolution.

To monitor various election-related activities and also check Model Code of Conduct compliance, the election authorities had established a command and control room at the CEO office in Jammu as well as in Srinagar.

"Similar mini-control rooms were also established in every DEO office which were functioning round-the-clock. All electronic media channels, social media platforms were monitored here. Any violation so detected was reported and the concerned RO/ARO issued notice," the officials said.

They said apart from checking for the MCC violations, the control room also had live feed of all polling stations and GPS vehicle tracking of all vehicles being used for poll parties.