'Initially, we had 48 teams, now it has been enhanced to 133 teams: that is for every 10 to 12 villages, there is a team that is working round the clock.' '133 x 3, that is, given the 8-hour shifts.' 'They are monitored every hour, they are equipped with GPS -- everything is tracked live, real time, from the control room.'
Issuing notice to the ED on the plea filed by the Tamil Nadu government and Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC), a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih told Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the anti-money laundering probe agency, that "Your ED is crossing all the limits."
Nearly 3,000 polling booths have been identified as sensitive, and special security arrangements, including drone surveillance, have been ensured at some of these locations.
Seizures were made to stop any inducement of voters in Maharashtra, where polling will take place on November 20.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
The commission said enforcement authorities have seized Rs 4,650 crore even before polling begins for the Lok Sabha elections and it is the "higher than total seizures" made in the 2019 polls
The unaccounted cash was seized on Monday evening near Khed-Shivapur plaza on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway during a police nakabandi.
The Punjab government dismissed claims that it owned the car intercepted in Delhi. The vehicle's number plate was forged and fake as it can be tracked to a different car not owned by the Punjab government, it said. The AAP, too, released a statement, saying the car seizure was a "planted stunt, ?poorly executed and utterly bogus".
During a review, the EC found that the performance of some officers was "unsatisfactory" and they were found "complacent, if not complicit" in various matters, including the illegal supply of liquor as a possible poll inducement, sources said.
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
Seizures in poll-bound states see sharp rise since implementation of Model Code of Conduct.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches against Chennai-based 'lottery king' Santiago Martin, the single biggest donor to political parties with over Rs 1,300 crore in electoral bonds, as part of a money laundering investigation. The action comes after the Madras High Court allowed the ED to proceed against Martin following a police decision to close the initial FIR against him.
"The DMK is not worried a wee bit," he said on the ED searches. Such an action by the ED was 'usual, ordinary and a drama' enacted to divert attention.
Four times more liquor has been seized in the 2024 election than during the 2019 polls.
Gujarat tops the chart with total seizure worth over Rs 510 crores, followed by Tamil Nadu at Rs 270.15 crores, Andhra Pradesh over Rs158 crores, Punjab Rs 155.91 crores and Uttar Pradesh Rs 142.31 crores.
Nearly Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) in cash and other items were seized in the elections in 2022-2023, an increase of 835 per cent over 2017-2018.
According to officials, this year there has been a three-fold increase in the total seizure, which was Rs 322 crore in 2021, Rs 347 crore in 2022 and Rs 1,021 crore so far in 2023.
China on Monday conducted day-long large-scale military drills aimed at surrounding Taiwan by deploying an aircraft carrier group, besides army, navy, air force and missile forces, in an apparent response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's remarks that Beijing has no authority to represent Taipei.
While the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Telangana by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Mizoram by the Mizo National Front.
Seizures, including the ballot box used for the March 30 countermanded elections to Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand, has given many clues to the Central Bureau of Investigation and the investigation was expected to be completed within six months.
Gujarat witnessed seizures of Rs 71.88 crore in just a few days after the announcement of the election
They said the police team collected electronic devices including CCTV DVR to potentially get the footage of the alleged assault on Maliwal on May 13 when Bibhav Kumar, Kejriwal's close aide, allegedly attacked her at the CM's residence.
According to the confession statement of Radha Kishan Rao, 'Peddayana' was very angry for not completing the work as per his expectation.
'She could have sat down with the students and taken a list of their grievances including their allegations and suspicions.' 'Not all suspicions are true, but you have to listen, you have to let the steam come out.'
'When you weigh anti-incumbency against the Centre against anti-incumbency against the state, anti-incumbency against the Centre will triumph as this is a parliamentary election.'
Former MLA Ram Dayal Uikey, the BJP nominee from Pali-Tanakhar seat in Korba district, was present in the vehicle when the cash was seized from there, the police official said.
Improvement in financial savings channelised massive inflows into the equities market through the mutual fund route.
The Election Commission of India has decided to seize both licensed and illegal weapons before the Lok Sabha election and will reject requests from political parties for change of poll dates because of festivals in Assam.
"The NIA categorically refuted allegations of mala fide in its Bhupatinagar blast case," an agency spokesperson said.
It said the election to Patkura assembly seat in Odisha will be held on July 20.
Shah said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action, and made reporting of crimes even easier by recognising e-FIR, Zero FIR and electronic or digital evidence.
Operators like Chor Babulal supply weapons in constituencies where violence is necessary to win votes as well as money for many politicians. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa unravels how dirty election money reaches the voter.
The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi high court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.
The DMK also warned of legal action against those who attempt to link Sadiq with either the party or its leaders.
Modi underlined his commitment to taking strict action against the corrupt amid criticism by opposition parties that probe agencies were used by his government to target their leaders.
As Jagan's property attachment came on the day the poll dates were announced, the YSR chief and his supporters refuse to buy the Enforcement Directorate's claim that it was a mere coincidence. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey on Sunday said that a clarification has been sought from party MP Dheeraj Sahu in connection with the recovery of huge cash from premises linked to him.
The cumulative seizure of such illegal inducements in the five poll-going states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab -- stood at Rs 1,039.50 crore, the sources said, adding that it included drugs worth Rs 571.34 crore.
'Votes-for-notes no longer only means cash and goodies for fence-sitting voters,' points out Sunil Sethi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is hopeful that the issue will come handy to its efforts to gain political traction in Dravidian state as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.
