Liquor worth Rs 1cr seized in Gujarat since poll announcement

Only three days have passed since the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force following announcement of Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission (EC), and the Gujarat police has already seized liquor of worth Rs 1.06 crore in the meantime. At an average, about 10,000 litres of liquor was seized per day and the total seizure made till Wednesday afternoon was recorded at 31,885 litres.

The chief electoral officer (CEO) in Gujarat, Dr S Murali Krishna addressed the press conference on Wednesday divulging information regarding the model code of conduct implementation in the state. Nodal officer for law and order in state appointed by EC for elections and Additional Director General of Police in Gujarat Sanjay Srivastava said that the authorities would ensure that liquor prohibition was implemented strictly across the state.

"The police registered total 2,256 cases related to liquor prohibition and arrested 1,827 persons in the same. The police have seized Indian Made Foreign Liquor(IMFL) of worth Rs. 1.06 crore while 1.86 lakh litres countrymade liquor has been also captured. Total seizure including mobile, vehicles and other sums up to be 1.64 crores under these raids," Srivastava said. The officer also added that out of total 56,890 weapons with licence in state, the holders have deposited 10,023 weapons.

The authorities have been also keeping watch over cash transportation. The limit for common people to carry cash is Rs. 10 lakh and 1kg of bullion materials including gold, silver and others. Meanwhile, the EC has rejected the appeal by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Congress party for holding working committees meeting in Ahmedabad at Sardar Patel Memorial building which was maintained by the grants of Gujarat government. The CEO said that the complaint filed by BJP was scrutinised by the district election officer (collector) and the claim was ruled out.

Code Of Conduct

• The Election Commission have formed 563 flying squads, 378 video surveillance teams and 207 video viewing teams, that will look after the implementation of strict MCOC
• The teams have removed more than 60,000 banners from different public and private buildings