The administration of Gondia district in Maharashtra has seized Rs 1.76 crore cash from two places ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, officials said, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, in the first case, the cash worth Rs 1.71 crore was seized at the check-post of Soni village and Rs 5 lakh from the Murdoli village check-post.
The cash was possessed by people in contravention of the Election Commission of India`s directives as one has to upload the details of the cash that he or she is carrying on the Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) of the ECI, as per the PTI.
Meanwhile, last week, Rs 23 crore cash, 17 lakh litre liquor, and 699 kg drugs from different parts of the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Maharashtra since March 1 were seized by the authorities, the state Chief Electoral Officer S. Chockalingam had said on Saturday, reported the PTI.
Addressing a press conference, the CEO also said preventive action has been taken against 13,141 persons so far, as per the PTI.
According to the news agency, as per the poll schedule for the 2024 general elections, Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to Lok Sabha, is scheduled to vote in five phases from April 19 to May 20.
“The highest number of cash seizures at Rs 3.6 crore was in Mumbai suburban district,” Chockalingam said.
Maharashtra has 9.2 crore registered voters and 1,84,841 new voters have been added to the list between March 17 and 22, he added, the news agency reported.
He said 10 nominations have been filed so far for the first phase of polling since March 20 including one nomination in Ramtek, five in Nagpur, two in Bhandara-Gondiya, and two in Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency.
No nomination has been received in Chandrapur, as per the PTI.
Earlier, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had last week announced that the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
In the first phase, scheduled for April 19, 2024, voters in five key constituencies, including Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara Gondia, Gadchiroli Chimur, and Chandrapur, will cast their votes.
(with PTI inputs)