New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Thursday that enforcement agencies have seized illicit inducements worth over Rs 408 crore in the last one month to prevent attempts at influencing voters in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, where Assembly polls will be held next month.
ECI said that since activation of its Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) on February 26, enforcement agencies have recovered inducements valued at Rs 408.82 crore. This includes cash amounting to Rs 17.44 crore, liquor worth Rs 37.68 crore (about 16.3 lakh litres), drugs valued at Rs 167.38 crore, precious metals worth Rs 23 crore and other ‘freebies’ — such as appliances, vouchers and utility‑style benefits — amounting to over Rs 163.30 crore.
The poll panel also informed that between March 15 and 25, as many as 70,944 complaints were lodged via cVigil. Of these, 70,831 complaints have been disposed of, including 67,899 complaints within 100 minutes, ECI claimed.
The cVigil app enables citizens to report model code of conduct violations during elections.
