New Delhi: Indian elections are always run on cash, liquor and drugs as EC’s latest haul worth Rs 240 cr cash, over one crore litres of alcohol and hundreds of kilos of heroine prove.
The maximum amount of Rs 102 cr was seized from Andhra Pradesh, followed by Rs 40 cr in Tamil Nadu and Rs 20 cr in Karnataka.
The Election Commission believes cash, liquor and drugs are being used as inducement to voters to skirt spending limit of Rs 70 Lakh per candidate.
In many places, candidates have handed out “coupons” for free alcohol and food to voters. Half-way through the polls, narcotics worth crores have been seized from Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In its bid to curb the use of black money and illegal funds in the elections, EC has deployed officers drawn from central revenue services like the Income Tax and Customs and Excise departments, in all the Lok Sabha constituencies and state Assembly seats where polling will be held.
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