Mumbai, March 23 : After the process for the first phase of the general elections started with the filing of nominations for 5 Lok Sabha seats in the Vidarbha region from March 20, the state election authorities with the help of the police have seized Rs 27 crore in cash, 17 lakh litres of liquor, 699 kg of drugs and 43 kg of precious metals from various parts of Maharashtra.
Of the Rs 27 crore, Rs 3.60 crore was seized from the Mumbai suburbs alone, said the state’s chief electoral officer S Chockalingam here on Saturday.
He however, clarified that the cash seized may not all be illegal and therefore no offence has been registered immediately with the Economic Offences Wing of the police. ‘’Only after the verification an offence will be registered or the cash returned if found to be within the stipulated norms,’’he added.
He said that in order to have free and fair elections, the Election Commission has deployed five general observers, 6 expenditure observers and 3 police observers in the 5 Lok Sabha constituencies including Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur and Chandrapur where the last date for filing nominations is March 27 and the polling is slated for April 19. According to him, so far 1 nomination has been filed in Ramtek, 2 each in Bhandara-Gondiya and Gadchiroli-Chimur while not a single one has been filed in Chandrapur constituency.
In Maharashtra, the registration of 1,84,841 new voters took place from March 17 to March 22. As on March 23, the total number of voters in all the 48 Lok Sabha seats of the state stands at 9,21,67,015.
Chockalingam said that adequate steps are being taken to maintain law and order in the state, especially in the Maoist-infested Gadchiroli constituency for peaceful elections. So far 308 arms without licence have been seized. Of the 77,148 licensed arms, action has been taken in the case of 45,755 pertaining to seizure, confiscation, or allowing the licensed arms holder to keep them as per the licence provisions.
He said that the names of 300 candidates can be accommodated in the EVM but if the number increases voting can be done through a ballot paper.
