Karnataka polls: An election fought on money power

An all-time-high Rs 92.70 crore were seized from 33 segment districts, of which Gadag topped after Rs 15.31 crore were confiscated from there.

The flying squads, static surveillance teams and police authorities seized Rs 15.63 cr, Rs 45.78 cr and Rs 63.07 lakh, respectively. (File | Reuters)

BENGALURU: Getting elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been valued far more than it was hitherto, if one were to go with the value of cash and other gifts – purportedly meant to buy votes – seized by enforcing authorities in the runup to the polls.

An all-time-high Rs 92.70 crore were seized from 33 segment districts, of which Gadag topped after Rs 15.31 crore were confiscated from there. Ramanagara, with the figure standing at `9.99 lakh, brought up the rear.

Bengaluru Rural district took the second place as `7.80 were seized from there. The next three districts are Tumakuru (`4.89 cr), Belagavi (`4.55 cr) and BBMP North (`3.57 cr).

Similarly, among low-cash seizure districts, Kodagu took the second spot, from where `10.56 lakh were seized, and was followed by Dakshina Kannada (`16.39 lakh), Yadgir (`25.58 lakh) and Raichur (`28.41 lakh).After the model code of conduct came into force in state, the I-T department contributed to ensure free and fair election in a big way by seizing `30.65 cr, one third of what Election Commission seized.
As per statistics obtained from the EC, seizure of cash this time is more than six times of what was seized during the 2013 assembly elections, as it was `14.42 cr then.

This time, the flying squads, static surveillance teams and police authorities seized `15.63 cr, `45.78 cr and `63.07 lakh, respectively. The teams went on to release `2.91 cr, `32.37 cr and `62 lakh respectively.
The teams handed over cash to the I-T department where the amount crossed `10 lakh. Cash handed over to I-T department is `32.99 cr, `5.30 cr and `5.50 cr respectively as this has to be checked for tax evasion.
Liquor seized at 5.40 lakh litres is eight times higher than that seized in 2013 when 67,953 litres was seized. That works out to `24.83 cr worth now, against `5.40 lakh worth then.