‘Rs 26.82 crore worth of liquor, narcotics, cash seized since August 16’

Chandigarh: To ensure that the Haryana Assembly elections are conducted in a fair and transparent manner, all guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) along with the Model Code of Conduct are being strictly followed.

To prevent voters from being influenced by any form of inducement, the ECI is maintaining a rigorous stance, with various agencies closely monitoring the movement of illegal liquor, narcotics and cash in the state.

From August 16 to September 16, a total of Rs 26.82 crore worth of illegal liquor, narcotics, cash and valuable items have been seized in the state.

Chief Electoral Officer, Pankaj Agarwal, said the Haryana Police along with other agencies, is continuously maintaining strict vigilance. He said that since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect, actions have been taken by the police, income tax, excise and taxation departments, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

Agarwal further informed that over Rs. 4.73 crore in cash have been seized. In addition to this, various agencies have seized more than 3,26,017 litres of illegal liquor worth over Rs. 9.82 crore. This includes over 2,39,170 litres of illegal liquor worth more than Rs. 7.80 crore seized by the Haryana Police, and over 86,121 litres worth more than Rs. 1.96 crore seized by the excise and taxation department.

Other agencies have seized 725 litres of illegal liquor worth over Rs 4 lakh. Agarwal further said that agencies have seized over 2,339 kg of narcotics which amount to Rs 6.76 crore. The police seized more than Rs 5.92 crore worth of narcotics, the NCB seized narcotics worth Rs 59 lakh.