The Telangana Election Commission on Monday said a total of Rs 56.48 crore had been seized in the state since the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). This included Rs 38.71 crore by the police and Rs 17.77 crore by the Income Tax Department.
Officials also said that the police seized 14,119.77 litres of liquor worth Rs 50 lakh. while the Excise Department seized a staggering 1,81,146.24 litres of liquor worth of Rs 3.99 crore. Authorities said that in total, the 19,52,66.01 litres of liquor seized was worth Rs 4.49 crore.
Meanwhile, in a related development, the Election Commission allotted time slots on All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan to the 11 registered political parties in the state contesting the elections.
"Out of them, seven are national parties; Congress, BJP, NCP, All-India Trinamool Congress, BSP, CPI and CPM. The remaining are all state recognised parties; AIMIM, TRS, TDP and YSRCP. The period of broadcasts/telecasts will be between the last day of filing nominations and two days before the polling. The Prasar Bharati Corporation (PBC) will decide the actual date and time for the broadcasts and telecasts, subject to the technical constraints governing actual time of transmission available," the EC said in a press release.
Each of the national parties and recognised state parties is allotted a base time of 45 minutes and additional time is allowed on the basis of poll performance in the constituencies that fell under Telangana, in the last Assembly elections in 2014.
"While a total of 990 minutes of time has been set aside on AIR and another 990 minutes on Doordarshan for the 11 parties, a maximum 245 minutes is given to TRS on AIR and 245 minutes on Doordarshan. The Congress and Telugu Desam are given 192 minutes and 130 minutes respectively each on AIR and Doordarshan. The parties will be required to submit the transcripts and recording in advance," the EC added.
The EC also said that the tradition of making the time available on AIR and Doordarshan to political parties during elections was started in 1998.
Telangana is scheduled to go to the polls on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11.