Lok Sabha Elections: Cash, Alcohol, Drugs, and Freebies Pour in Goa

Lok Sabha Elections: Cash, Alcohol, Drugs, and Freebies Pour in Goa

It’s raining money, drugs, drinks, and freebies in Goa just three weeks before the election on May 7. In almost a period of six weeks, from March 1 to April 13, 2024, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recovered almost one lakh liters of alcohol, ₹15.64 crore in cash, ₹3.23 crore worth of narcotics, and freebies totaling ₹1.18 crore in Goa. Goa is the smallest state in the nation, with only two parliamentary seats (North Goa and South Goa). As a result, its cash seizures are proportionately higher than those of other states; in Gujarat, they totaled ₹6.5 crores, in National Capital Territory Delhi, ₹6.1 crore, in Uttarakhand, and ₹1.47 crore in Odisha over the same time period. On the other hand, in Ladakh, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry, not a single penny’s worth of cash has been taken.

According to the ECI’s Election Seizure Management System (ESMS), an in-house developed portal for real-time reporting of interceptions and seizures and first tested during the last round of Assembly elections, the total drug haul of ₹3.23 crore over the past six weeks in Goa has been much lower than ₹485 crore in Gujarat, ₹213 crore in Maharashtra, ₹280 crore in Punjab, and ₹293 crore in Tamil Nadu. It’s important to note that, despite Goa having caught 101,446 liters of alcohol, the dry states of Gujarat and Bihar have registered seizures of 760,062 and 845,758 liters of alcohol, respectively.

Goa has become a hub for the illicit movement of alcohol to neighboring states; therefore, reports of seizures, particularly involving alcohol, are flooding local newspapers. Reports have been made by officials from the Karnataka and Maharashtra administrations about multiple seizures of liquor in border areas that originated in Goa. In Goa, precious metals have also exchanged hands. A haul worth ₹3.8 crore has been seized in the last six weeks, despite ESMS not providing specifics regarding the sort of precious metal.

The release of funds seized during the Election Code of Conduct in Goa is being supervised by a special commission. The committee, which is made up of government representatives, is in charge of investigating every instance of cash seizure carried out by the police, flying squad, or static surveillance team. In cases where no formal complaint or Federal Investigation Report has been made regarding the seizure, or if the seizure has no connection to any political candidate, party, or election campaign, the committee will step in. The District Collector has additionally declared that anyone carrying more than ₹50,000 in cash must have legitimate identification.

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The country’s 75-year history of Lok Sabha elections indicates that, based on ESMS, this election’s ECI is expected to have the highest number of inducement seizures ever. Already, more money has been taken into custody than in all of the 2019 elections—Rs. 4,650 crores—before the votes had started. Drugs worth ₹2,068.85 crore were taken from around the nation between March 1 and April 13, 2024, with freebies worth ₹1,142.49 crore being seized. Thirty-six thousand liters of alcohol have been confiscated in India in the last six weeks.