UP election haul tops Rs 200 cr in unaccounted cash, narcotics and liquor

900,000 licensed arms deposited with district authorities, licenses of over 1,000 cancelled; restraint order issued against 2.2 mn persons and non-bailable warrants executed against 35,000

Uttar Pradesh, which accounts for the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, has logged record haul of nearly Rs 200 crore in unaccounted cash and precious metals, narcotics and liquor across the state.

Under the model code of conduct (MCC) in force for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the state police and Income Tax (I-T) department have so far recovered more than Rs 46 crore in unaccounted cash in UP, apart from precious metals such as gold and silver worth almost Rs 72 crore.

The police and the narcotic department have also seized psychotropic substances, including smack and cannabis, worth about Rs 26 crore, even as two more phases of polling are still due in the state.

Meanwhile, the state excise department impounded nearly 1.7 million litres of illicit liquor worth over Rs 45 crore across the 75 districts in UP.

According to the UP Chief Election Officer L Venkateshwarlu, nearly 900,000 licensed arms have been deposited with the respective district authorities and arms licenses of more than 1,000 people cancelled across the state to ensure law and order. A restraint order has been issued against over 2.2 million persons and non-bailable warrants executed against 35,000 individuals.

The authorities have also impounded 7.4 tonnes of explosives, including 14,000 live cartridges and 4,200 bombs during search and seizure operations.

More than 6.6 million posters, graffiti, wall writings, banners and such like have either been removed or covered under the MCC norms in public and private places across UP since the model code was enforced on March 10 after the declaration of the polling schedule by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

At the same time, about 4,280 cases relatimg to violation of the MCC with regards to vehicles, public meeting, loudspeakers and inflammatory speeches have come to light, and nearly 1,900 first information reports (FIR) have been lodged for serious offences.

So far, 53 parliamentary constituencies in UP have already had polling in the first five phases and the remaining 27 seats go to polls on May 12 and 19, before the counting takes place on May 23.

Polling in UP is scheduled in seven phases -- April 11, 18, 23, 29, May 6, 12 and 19, progressing from Western UP to the Eastern UP districts.

In UP, more than 144 million voters, equal to Russia's population, are eligible to exercise their franchisee, including more than 77.9 million males, 66.1 million females and 8,374 third gender voters. A total of 91,709 polling centres and 1,63,331 booths would be set up. The seven phases of polling would witness voting in 8, 8, 10, 13, 14, 14 and 13 constituencies respectively spread across 75 districts.