The Election Commission of India has seized over ₹408 crore in illicit inducements aimed at influencing voters in four states and one Union Territory. This includes cash, drugs, liquor, precious metals, and other freebies, following the activation of the ESMS system.
Election Commission said that it has seized over ₹408.82 crore worth of illicit inducements, including ₹17.44 crore in cash, drugs worth ₹167.38 crore, liquor worth ₹37.68 crore (16.3 lakh litres), precious metals worth ₹23 crore and other freebies worth over ₹163.30 crore.
This came after the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) activated on 26 February following announcement of the assembly elections and by-elections on 15 March, it added.
Assembly elections are scheduled to held in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal next month. There are also bye-elections in six states.
₹408 crore illicit inducements seized: What we know
- The EC noted that in 10 days, between 15-25 March, the body has registered 70,944 complaints. These were registered using the cVigil mobile application developed by the EC. It enables citizens to report model code of conduct violations during elections.
- Of these, 70,831 have been disposed of and 67,899 complaints (or 95.8%) were resolved within 100 minutes, it said.
- To secure fair and free elections, the Commission has deployed more than 5,173 flying squads across the states/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes.
- Further, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise nakas (checkpoints) at different locations, it added.
- The Commission has also set up a complaint redressal system including a Call Centre number 1950 in which complaint can be lodged by any member of the public or political party, with the DEO / RO concerned.
- “The Commission has directed the State/UT governments to ensure strict compliance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC),” it added.
- The press note added that the Commission held a review meeting with the Chief Secretaries, CEOs, DGPs, and senior officers from the five poll-going states/UTs and their 12 bordering states/UTs along with the Heads of Enforcement Agencies to review readiness, enhance coordination, and directed them to ensure violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement-free elections on 24 March 2026.
- “Enforcement authorities should ensure that ordinary citizens are not inconvenienced or harassed during the checking and inspection for the enforcement of these directives. District Grievance Committees have also been setup to address any grievances in this regard,” it added.
About the Author
Jocelyn Fernandes
Jocelyn Fernandes is a journalist and editor with nearly 13 years of experience covering the business, corporate, economy and markets beats in news.
As chief content producer for around three years at Livemint (Hindustan Times), Jocelyn publishes breaking stories, explainers, features and live blogs on a range of business and economy topics, including the Budget, corporate developments, stock markets, income tax, money and personal finance, cryptocurrency, government policy, impact of US tariffs, international developments and more.
Jocelyn’s writing philosophy is focused on delivering news in an accurate and accessible format for readers. She thus focuses her news coverage on explainers and FAQs in order to breakdown business, corporate, economic, and policy topics that are of importance to everyday readers.
She holds a Bachelors in Mass Media (BMM) and Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Journalism and Communication and has previously written for online business and markets news site Moneycontrol (Network18), Business-to-business (B2B) trade publications — the industry magazines Power Today and Solar Today (ASAPP Media), and the national news agency United News of India (UNI).
Outside of work, Jocelyn keeps up-to-date with local and international news, enjoys reading fiction books, novels and short stories, and enjoys movies, travelling and art.
She can be found on X and LinkedIn, and reached by email: jocelyn.fernandes@htdigital.in
X/ Twitter handle: @scribeJocelyn
LinkedIn: LinkedIn
