17 April,2019 04:23 PM IST | Mumbai | Chetna Sadadekar and Ranjeet Jadhav
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Maharashtra is among the top five states where the enforcement agencies, in collaboration with the Election Commission, have seized highest amount of cash, gold, liquor and drugs during the election season. Items and cash worth Rs 112.93 crore have been seized in the state in the past 20 days. The seizure across nation amounts to Rs 2550.75 crore.
Precious metal, including gold, silver and other valuable jewels, worth Rs 44.76 crore was seized in the state till April 15. The excise department has seized 21.24 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 21.24 crore - almost 21 times higher than the last general elections' figure. About 31,440 litres of liquor worth Rs 0.56 crore was seized in 2014.
Seizure of drugs and narcotics also saw a massive spike this year. While the agencies confiscated 14,691 kg of drugs and narcotics worth Rs 6.12 lakh this year, only 47.02 kg of the substances worth Rs 4 lakh were recovered during the last LS polls.
In terms of cash, there was a slight drop in the figure with the Income Tax department seizing Rs 40.81 crore this year against Rs 43 crore in 2014. However, all the numbers for this year are only from the past 20 days, while the 2014 figures represent the seizure for the entire election season. This year's figures are likely to go up as three phases of the elections still remain in the state, officials said.
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Five teams each have been deployed at every constituency where the polls are still to be held and are conducting checks at key locations. Maharashtra's additional chief electoral officer Dilip Shinde said, "We have ensured special measures to seize all that can lead to influencing the voters. Video and static surveillance teams have also been deployed at the constituencies. All the departments such as excise, I-T, customs and revenue are working with us to ensure smooth election in the state."
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