Election officials have so far seized cash and material worth over ₹1.66 crore in the district since the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 16.
Hours after the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election dates, the static surveillance teams and the flying squads began checking vehicles at check-posts. After a few days, they began checking at vantage points. The officials started seizing cash from those carrying more than ₹50,000 without valid documents.
A total of ₹4.65 lakh was seized by the officials within 24 hours after the checking began. On March 19, the officials seized ₹12 lakh from cars in different places of the district. The static surveillance teams netted over ₹5.66 lakh next day. Over ₹47 lakh was seized on March 21 and ₹60 lakh the next day.
According to sources, the daily cash seizure was less than ₹5 lakh thereafter except for a day. There was no cash seizure in any part of the district for three consecutive days since April 6. A total of ₹1.66 crore in cash has been seized till April 11 ever since the Model Code of Conduct came into force.
Crackdown on goods
In addition to the seizure of unaccounted cash carried by the people, the officials cracked down on those who carried goods, including gold, gift articles, Indian Made Foreign Liquor bottles, ganja, and drugs. On March 20, the officials seized 2.2 kg of ganja and 19 litres of IMFL. They seized ganja and bottles with IMFL almost on all days since March 20. Up to Thursday, 641 litres of IMFL, 359 litres of toddy and 8.1 kg of ganja have been seized at different places.
Collector M. Pradeep Kumar, who is also the Returning Officer of the Tiruchi Lok Sabha constituency, told The Hindu that the objective was to check the flow of unaccounted money. A system had been instituted to audit the seizure of cash and material daily. If the people produced documents in support of properties seized during the vehicle checking, articles or cash were returned. Of ₹1.66 crore, ₹1.57 crore was returned to the people concerned after the due verification process.
The next one week would be crucial. The static surveillance teams and flying squads were sensitised to intensify the checking of vehicles round the clock, Mr. Pradeep Kumar added.
