A record Rs 328 crore worth of inducements to voters such as cash, liquor and narcotics have been seized in Uttar Pradesh since the announcement of the assembly poll schedule on January 8, Election Commission sources said on Thursday. The cumulative seizure of such illegal inducements in the five poll-going states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab — stood at Rs 1,039.50 crore, the sources said, adding that it included drugs worth Rs 571.34 crore.
The seizure figure in Uttar Pradesh up to Thursday was Rs 328.33 crore, 1.70 times more than the total combined seizure of Rs 193.29 crore in the entire assembly polls held in 2017 in the state. Like last time, this time too assembly polls in the state are being held in seven phases. While voting is over in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur still have one phase each to go.
The commission, the sources said, has been laying special emphasis on inducement-free elections and curbing the malaise of undue money power, liquor and freebies. A total of 128 expenditure observers have been deployed in Uttar Pradesh for effective monitoring. Over 1,800 flying squads and 2,104 static surveillance teams were operationalised to check movement of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies in Uttar Pradesh.
Eight air intelligence units of the Income Tax Department have been formed in Uttar Pradesh. Voting for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls began on Thursday morning, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several prominent faces among the 676 candidates who are contesting on 57 seats spread across 10 districts.
Around 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase. Till now, voting for 292 of the 403 Assembly seats has been completed. The final phase of the elections in the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.
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