Seizure more than spending in Chhattisgarh election

The cash and kind seized by the authorities during the campaign for the Chhattisgarh polls had exceeded the amount that the candidates had spent to ensure a seat in the state legislative assembly.

The data available for the Raipur district alone that comprised seven assembly constituencies, the police on the direction from the Election Commission had seized cash and other materials worth about Rs 2.30 crore.

The materials seized include liquor, gifts and other items that the candidates were giving as gratification to the voters.

“In all, the 108 candidates contesting the state polls in the seven assembly constituencies in Raipur district had spent Rs 2.23 crore,” officials in the state electoral office said. The amount spent by the candidates to contest the election was less that the amount that they had reserved to “oblige” the voters.

The officials said the Election Commission was strict in monitoring the fairness of election and had resulted in a large scale seizure of unfair means.

The commission had constituted 40 flying squads besides 35 monitoring committees and 15 excise    department teams.

The police had registered 22 offenses of violation of model code of conduct in the district. Of the cases, the officials informed, 16 cases were trapped by the flying squads while six cases were directly charged by the police.

Of the 108 candidates who were in the fray, only one candidate had exceeded the limit of expenditure fixed by the election commission. Chhattisgarh’s public works minister Brijmohan Agrawal was “liberal” to spend during the election campaign. As against the limit of Rs 16 lakh, he had reportedly spent more than Rs 17 lakh.

The officials said the candidate exceeding the limit would be served show-cause notice. If the reply was not satisfactory, the commission would take necessary action that even amount to disqualification of the member.