Published 13:37 IST, September 27th 2019

Maharashtra Polls: Election officials seize Rs 10 lakh in Bhiwandi

With less than a month to the upcoming polls in Maharashtra, the Election authorities, on Friday, have seized Rs 10 lakh cash at a check post in Bhiwandi.

Election News
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With just less than a month to the upcoming polls in Maharashtra, the Election authorities, on Friday, have seized Rs 10 lakh cash at a check post in Bhiwandi town of Thane district. This is the first cash seizure in Thane district after the assembly poll schedule for Maharashtra was announced on September 21. Officers at the Chavindra check post acted on a tip-off and spotted a car entering the power loom town. An official said that cash worth Rs 10 lakh was found in the vehicle upon searching it at the check post.

Cash deposited in the treasury

The driver of the vehicle stopped at the check post, Suresh Dharmani, could not explain the source of the money. Following the search, the cash was seized and deposited in the treasury on the orders of Mohan Naladkar, the returning officer for the Bhiwandi (East) assembly constituency. Rajesh Narvekar, the collector of Thane had asked the officials to keep an eye on the movement of cash in the last week. He also directed the banks to provide proper identification papers and letters to those transporting cash for loading in ATMs. Narvekar has instructed banks to monitor high-value transactions and report them to authorities concerned. He has said banks also need to monitor transactions made by friends and family members of the contesting candidates.

Read: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray hopes alliance does not fail

Read: Maharashtra: Shiv Sena in a Fix Over Number of Seats for Election

The BJP-Shiv Sena coalition in Maharashtra

With elections just around the corner poll-bound, Maharashtra has been caught up in a conundrum with regards to alliances. There have been speculations that the BJP might not agree to the seat-sharing formula originally proposed by it, for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena has been conducting interviews of ticket aspirants for all the 288 assembly seats and reviewed its poll preparedness on Sunday at a party meeting. The Shiv Sena President said, before the Lok Sabha polls, senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah had promised that seats would be divided 50-50 between the two parties for the assembly elections and now Thackeray hopes that the BJP keeps that promise. Also, while the Sena is stressing on the 50:50 seat-sharing formula for the upcoming polls, the BJP, on the other hand, maybe eyeing more seats to accommodate leaders from other parties who have joined the party recently.