PUNE: The Election Commission's enforcement agencies' crackdown on poll-time inducements in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand yielded record seizures. Precious metals led the haul in Maharashtra, while freebies topped the charts in Jharkhand, ECI officials said late last week. Maharashtra's total seizures reached Rs 280.93 crore since the announcement of elections, with precious metals accounting for Rs 90.53 crore – the highest component.
The data showed that Jharkhand reported total seizures worth Rs 158.7 crore, with freebies constituting a massive Rs 127.88 crore of the total haul.
"These figures represent a three-fold increase from the 2019 assembly elections in both states," a senior EC official told TOI, attributing it to enhanced surveillance and enforcement measures. Agencies under the Election Commission seized Rs 558 crore worth of cash, freebies, liquor, drugs, and precious metals to stop any inducement of voters in ongoing elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and by-polls. Combined seizures in the two poll-bound states marked a 3.5-time increase compared to the Assembly Election in 2019 when Maharashtra recorded seizures worth Rs 103.61 crore, while for Jharkhand, it was Rs 18.76 crore.
CEC Rajiv Kumar earlier directed all officials on the ‘Zero Tolerance’ of the Commission towards any kind of inducements in elections. He also asked for joint teams from multiple agencies to clamp down on the distribution and movement of illicit liquor, drugs, freebies, and cash in both states. Recently, during a meeting with CS, DGP, Excise Commissioners, and enforcement agencies of the two poll-going states and their neighbouring states and UTs, he stressed close vigilance on movements across inter-state borders and also directed agencies to establish backward linkages of seizures for wider deterrence.
Regular follow-ups and reviews with each district, the use of information technology, precise data interpretation, and the active participation of enforcement agencies led to this significant spurt in seizures, officials added. The real-time reporting of interceptions and seizures with the ECI’s Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) led to regular and precise reviews on expenditure monitoring by the Commission and agencies themselves. The election officials mapped out 110 Assembly Constituencies in the two states (Maharashtra - 91 & Jharkhand - 19), which are marked as Expenditure Sensitive Constituencies for more focused vigilance.
Citizens' Complaints on cVIGIL AppThe cVigil app has been an effective tool in the hands of citizens to flag election code violations. Since the announcement of the assembly elections and the by-polls, 9,681 complaints were resolved through the cVigil app, stated election officials from both states. The disposal rate of the complaints was over 98%, with over 83% of the complaints being resolved in under 100 minutes.
By using this app, citizens can immediately report incidents of any election-related violations, and action is taken within a 100-minute timeline. Ahead of the polls, as many as 8,546 campaign requests came from Maharashtra, while 6,317 requests came from Jharkhand.
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