Ahead of the polls on May 16, the EC has now seized over Rs 100 crore in Tamil Nadu. Till Wednesday, the money seized had amounted to Rs 98 crore, with the EC deploying more officers to check unprecedented use of money power.

According to the report in The Hindu, the seized amount had totaled Rs 100.32 crore of which Rs 37 crore has been returned upon production of relevant documents.

The EC has increased scrutiny on unprecedented expenditure and distribution of funds by deploying over 7500 flying squads to conduct surveillance. In addition, 118 IPS probationers are also to assist in the process.

Previously, the Election Commission conducted several raids, including in AIADMK and DMK quarters, in order to ensure ethical voting.

On Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Lakhoni, along with 1.63 crore voters, took a pledge for ethical voting. The consequent “No Note for Vote campaign” saw 1,64,32,213 persons across 1,07,517 locations gathering collectively to take the pledge.