At Rs 662 cr, Rajasthan continues to witnesses alarming rise in pre-poll seizures

Praveen Gupta, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Rajasthan, said on Friday that cash, drugs, liquor, precious metals, and freebies worth Rs 662 crore have been seized in the state since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections was implemented on March 16.

To put things in perspective, the figures stood at Rs 510 crore on April 6, which was 992 per cent more than the seizures made during the entire MCC period in 2019.

Gupta said different enforcement agencies have seized items worth more than Rs 20 crore each from 15 districts of Rajasthan since the MCC came into force on March 16.

The seized materials include cash worth Rs 33.79 crore, narcotics worth more than Rs 70 crore, and liquor valued at over Rs 34 crore. Besides, precious metals like gold and silver worth Rs 41 crore, freebies worth over Rs 69 lakh, and other materials worth more than Rs 477 crore have also been seized during the period under review.

The CEO said that since March 16, maximum seizures have been made in Pali district, where items worth approximately Rs 33.17 crore have been seized, followed by Udaipur (Rs 31.2 crore), and Dausa (Rs 31.16 crore) districts.

The other districts from where sizable seizures have been made include Dungarpur, Churu, Bhilwara, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, Nagaur, Ganganagar, Chittorgarh, Barmer, and Banswara.