Liquor Worth Rs 40.75 Cr, Cash of 20.8 Cr Seized in Odisha During Elections

Bhubaneswar: Unaccounted cash worth Rs 20.8 crore and liquor worth a whopping Rs 40.75 crore was seized during the dual election process in Odisha, informed the chief electoral officer (CEO) Nikunja Bihari Dhal on Thursday.

Speaking to the newsmen, these seizures were made by enforcement teams of the model code of conduct during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.

The cash seized during the 2024 elections was 20 times of the amount seized during polls in 2019. In 2019, a total of Rs 1.17 crore was seized and it was Rs 1.89 crore during 2014 polls.

While liquor worth Rs 40.75 crore was seized during teh recent election process, the amount of liquor seized in 2019 was worth Rs 9.42 crore, and liquor worth Rs 6.65 crore in 2014.

Around Rs 78 crore worth ganja and brown sugar was seized in the recent election in sharp contrast to the seizure of Rs 22.02 crore worth in 2019 and Rs 7.23 crore worth in the 2014 elections, the CEO said.

The total amount of seized cash and narcotics during the 2024 elections was Rs 275 crore against Rs 44.6 crore in 2019 and Rs 20 crore in the 2014 elections, Dhal said.