Rs 19 crore cash seized in poll-bound Maharashtra, Haryana

With campaigning for Assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra coming to an end, Election Commission-appointed flying squads have seized over Rs 19 crore cash and more than 5 lakh litres of liquor, apparently intended to lure voters.

According to data compiled data for Maharashtra, Rs 16.60 crore cash was recovered while 2.86 lakh litres of liquor worth Rs 87.25 lakh was seized by EC-appointed surveillance teams in the state.

In Haryana, Rs 2.79 crore cash and over 130 kg gold and silver ware have been seized since the poll dates were announced.

Authorities in Haryana also released a seized amount of Rs 32 lakh after the cash was found to be "clean".

In Haryana, over 28,800 cans of beer, 1.96 lakh litres of liquor, 1,155 kg of ammonium nitrate used for making crude explosives and 6,320 kg of various types of drugs have been sized, the data showed.

In its effort to curb the use of black money and illegal funds in the elections, the EC has deployed officers drawn from central revenue services like the Income Tax and Customs and Excise departments and those from the state government in all the Assembly seats of the two states where polling will be held on October 15.

Counting of votes is scheduled for October 19.