₹141 crore worth poll inducements seized in Andhra Pradesh so far: CEO

“From the time of the announcement of the election schedule till Tuesday, 23 April, ₹ 141 crore worth cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals, freebies and other inducements have been seized, which amounted to the highest-ever statewide seizures and twice the value of total seizures logged during 2019 polls,” said the release.

The Election Commission noted that such a high seizure of inducements registered even before the conduct of elections is a record in the southern state.

It said as many as 424 inter-state and intra-state checkposts were set up and a Command Control Centre was scrutinising vehicles passing through 358 of these checkposts via webcasting.

Besides the satellite-tracking movement of liquor across the state, the Election Commission is also monitoring the movement of 1,680 vehicles used by flying squads and sectoral officers operating on poll duties with the same mechanism, along with vehicles ferrying the Electronic Voting Machines.

Also, the EC has been focussing on news being telecast on Telugu news channels, including taking relevant action on adverse reports related to polls. Similar steps have been incorporated to track news in the print media.

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