Maha polls: Rs 21 lakh seized in Navi Mumbai

A cash of Rs 21,32,800 was seized from a person in Navi Mumbai during a drive to put a tab on dubious cash transactions in run-up to October 15 Assembly elections, a senior official said here today.
"Cash of Rs. 21,32,800 was seized from a person in Navi Mumbai and police are investigating the case. Besides, a total of 26 arms have been seized and 321 arms have been surrendered (since the election schedule is announced) with police stations," Thane district Collector P Velrasu told reporters in a press conference.
He said the district consists of 18 Assembly segments, with a total of 59.01 lakh voters of whom 32.44 lakh are male.

"A total of 53 flying squads, 49 static surveillance teams, 38 video surveillance teams, 33 video viewings teams, and 18 candidate expenditure teams will be operational during the poll period," Velrasu said in response to a query on electoral preparations.
The collector said that a total of 6175 polling booths will be set up for elections, counting for which will be held on October 15.
"The election department had received a total of 73542 applications for enrolment as voters in the district which are being processed," he said.

Replying to a query on possibility of politicians cashing in on the upcoming festival season to influence voters, Velrasu said that as per the EC guidelines political leaders or party nominees cannot make use of venues for Navratri festival for any kind of electioneering.

Referring to two separate incidents during Lok Sabha elections wherein as many polling booth staff died apparently due to various ailments they were already suffering from, Velrasu said the authorities are preparing a list of such staffers.
"The staff who has the history of any ailment(s) will be provided with instant medical assistance in case of emergency and each team (of polling officials) will be provided with a medical kit for the purpose," he said.
When asked about the measures being taken to ensure that all voters get registered, he pointed out to instances in recently-held Lok Sabha elections wherein names of six lakh voters from the city were not found on the rolls.

"The election department had by speed post sent letters to around 6 lakh persons but most of the letters returned undelivered," he added.