Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Potential voter inducements worth over Rs 650 crore have been seized by Election Commission teams from the five poll-bound states/UT so far, with West Bengal accounting for almost half of these seizures.Since the electronic seizure management system (ESMS) was activated on Feb 26, 2026, flying squads and static surveillance teams have reported cumulative seizures worth Rs 319 crore in West Bengal, Rs 170 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 97 crore in Assam, Rs 58 crore in Kerala and Rs 7 crore in Puducherry.A category-wise breakup shows that freebies accounted for the largest percentage of seizures in terms of value (Rs 231 crore), followed by drugs (Rs 230 crore), liquor (Rs 79.3 crore), precious metals (Rs 58 crore) and cash (Rs 53.2 crore).As per EC data on seizures made during the 2021 assembly polls, by April 16, 2021, when polling had concluded in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry and was half-way through in Bengal, their total value had crossed Rs 1,000 crore. Tamil Nadu topped the tally with seizures worth Rs 446.3 crore, followed by Bengal (Rs 300 crore), Assam (Rs 122 crore), Kerala (Rs 85 crore) and Puducherry (Rs 37 crore).
