Tamil Nadu has recorded the highest amount of cash seizure by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
With ten days for the state to go to polls, the ECI has been working to restrict the movement of cash and other high-value items across the state. Cash, gold, silver and other items moved without sufficient documents or in a suspicious manner are being confiscated by the officers of the ECI. Tamil Nadu tops the list where the highest value of seizures have been recorded till Sunday.
According to the report available with the ECI, the total value of seizures in Tamil Nadu stood at Rs 398.11 crore. This is the highest in the country apart from Gujarat where contraband worth Rs 500 crore was seized earlier. Out of the seizures made in Tamil Nadu, Rs 160.39 crore of cash, 1,289 kilograms of precious metals including gold and silver worth Rs 228.85 crore were seized.
With this, Tamil Nadu earns the dubious distinction of being the state from where the highest amount of cash has been seized. Tamil Nadu is followed by Andhra Pradesh in the total value of seizures and the quantum of cash seized. While Andhra Pradesh's total value of seizures stood at Rs 185.68 crore, the share of cash in the total amount stood at Rs 114.18 crore. No other state in India has crossed the Rs 100-crore mark in cash seizure as yet.
In the total value of goods seized list, Punjab follows Andhra Pradesh with a total value of seizures amounting to Rs 166.27 crore. Uttar Pradesh grabs the fourth place with the value of seizures touching Rs 151.36 crore.
Apart from parliamentary elections for 39 constituencies, Tamil Nadu will also witness bye-elections for 18 assembly constituencies on April 18.