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INDIA-VOTING-ELECTION
India seizes cash, drugs and booze worth $70mn in pre-vote crackdown
NEW DELHI, March 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Indian authorities have seized more
than $70 million worth of cash, booze and illegal drugs under special laws
designed to curb vote buying during the world’s biggest election, officials
said Tuesday.
Around 900 million Indians are eligible to vote in the mammoth polls,
which start April 11 and run nearly six weeks in a huge endeavour some
experts say could cost $10 billion.
From the moment the election was announced on March 10, special laws took
effect banning all Indians from carrying large amounts of money, gold or
silver to reduce the risk of politicians buying votes.
Officials such as police and railway staff are granted temporary powers
during the campaign to seize booze, cash or other goods they believe are
being used to sway voters.
So far, authorities have confiscated 4.4 million litres of liquor and 1.5
billion rupees ($21.8 million) in cash considered suspicious, the election
commission said in a statement.
Illegal drugs worth an almost similar amount had been seized, the
commission said.
“Freebies” stockpiled in trucks along highways worth an estimated 120
million rupees were also confiscated. No exact description of the goods was
provided, but in the past political parties have used mobile phones,
televisions and other electronic gadgets to entice votes.
Poorer voters are particularly targeted by unscrupulous politicians during
elections and plied with cash and luxury items to garner support and
influence.
To combat this, special election laws prohibit anybody from possessing more
than one kilogram of gold or silver, or carrying in excess of one million
rupees, until the results are declared on May 23.
In the 2014 elections, 16 million litres of liquor and 17,000 kilograms of
drugs seized.
This election, a mobile-based application lets voters report any wrongdoing
taking place in their electorate, in a bid to clean up the the poll.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party stormed to power in 2014, must fend off Rahul Gandhi and his Congress
party to return to high office.
BSS/AFP/ARS/2005 hrs