Page 166 - Leap of Faith inside pages with cover (1)

Leap of Faith Journey of Indian Elections

Two days ahead of the scheduled polls, the election in 8- agencies/state police across various states/UTs during
Vellore Parliamentary Constituency (Tamil Nadu) was the General Elections, 2019. The value of the seized
rescinded on April 16, 2019. Thus one constituency was goods are indicated as below -
dropped from the Schedule. The step was taken after the
Income Tax Department, through its extensive search Item Seized Value in Crores of Rupees
and seizure operations, unearthed a systematic design to
influence voters through inducements that comes under Cash 844.00
purview of corrupt practices according to Representation Liquor 304.61
of People Act, 1951. The Special Expenditure Observer Drug/Narco cs 1279.90
for Tamil Nadu in her report dated April 08 had opined
the situation was not conducive for conducting free and Precious Metals 987.11
fair elections. Election was later conducted in the Other Freebies 60.15
Constituency separately on August 08, 2019.
Total 3,475.77
Various enforcement agencies acted with alacrity to
prevent money power, in its various manifestations, from
vitiating the electoral process. A large quantity of cash,
liquor, drugs, narcotics, precious metals (gold and silver)
and other items meant for distribution as freebies
amongst voters were recovered by enforcement

Cash Seizures

150