Seizures worth ₹147 crore in Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland ahead of polls: ECI

At ₹85.76 crore, narcotics account for nearly 60% of the total seizures worth ₹147.84 crore in the three states

NEW DELHI: Law enforcement agencies have seized cash, precious metals, liquor, narcotics, and freebies worth ₹148 crore in the run-up to assembly elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, a 20-fold increase over seizures worth Rs.7.24 crore in 2018, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Thursday.

The ECI deployed 19 Expenditure Observers in Tripura, 21 in Meghalaya and 24 in Nagaland as also two special expenditure observers. (Twitter/SpokespersonECI)

Tripura is voting on Thursday; Nagaland and Meghalaya will vote on February 27. The votes will be counted on March 2.

The ECI statement attributed the spike in the seizures to coordinated efforts of enforcement agencies, extensive monitoring, identification of expenditure-sensitive constituencies and deployment of adequate number of field teams. Also, the commission, which has classified 80 assembly segments across the three states as expenditure sensitive, appointed 19 expenditure observers in Tripura, 21 in Meghalaya and 24 in Nagaland.

At ₹85.76 crore, narcotics account for nearly 60% of the total seizures in the three states. The teams also seized freebies worth ₹34.39 crore, ₹14.05 crore in cash and liquor worth ₹9.31 crore, the ECI statement said.

The highest value of the seizures, ₹63.98 crore, were reported from Meghalaya, followed next by ₹44.67 crore in Tripura and ₹39.19 crore in Nagaland.

“Big operations include seizure of 3.52 kg of heroin in Dhalai district amounting 10.58 crore made by Police. Seizures of Heroin were also reported from East Khasi Hills District in Meghalaya (2.447 Kg) and from Chumoukedima District in Nagaland (2.27 kg), done by DRI,” the ECI said.

“Since these three poll-bound States share both national and international boundaries, apart from drugs, liquor inflow with the purpose of wooing voters, has been another major concern for the Election Commission,” the statement said.

The commission directed operationalizing excise nakas at strategic locations and border check posts to curb inflow of liquor. “The efforts have led to more than 3 lakh litres of liquor seizure in the three states with still days left before final completion of poll, particularly in Meghalaya and Nagaland,” the election watchdog said, adding that seizure of 1.7 million sticks of imported cigarettes worth ₹3.67 crores was also reported in Meghalaya.