West Bengal Assembly polls 2016: More than Rs 7 crore seized in pre-poll drive

Over Rs 7 crore has been seized from West Bengal so far during the pre-poll drive against financial transactions without valid documents. Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Amitjyoti Bhattacharya said the IT department seized Rs 4.86 crore while the flying squads have seized Rs 91.75 lakh. Another Rs 1.47 crore has been seized by static surveillance teams, he said.

The Election Commission is monitoring poll-related expenses of candidates and have started an election expenditure monitoring cell in each of the districts. Officials said since the election process started in the state, they have been keeping an eye on anyone carrying cash in large quantity.

If anyone is found carrying cash above Rs 10 lakh then the income tax department is informed to trace the source and destination of money. Through the mobile app ‘Samadhan’, the EC is getting complaints both from public as well as political parties on poll-related issues like electoral rolls, voter ID cards, model code of conduct violation, etc. (Also read. Sonia Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi govt of toppling all Congress ruled states)

Altogether, 9,914 complaints have so far been received out of which over a thousand complaints are yet to be disposed off. More than half of the complaints are from politicians, Bhattacharya said.