Cash, liquor, poll freebies worth Rs 10.13 cr seized in Goa

Cash, liquor and election freebies worth Rs 10.13 crore has been seized in Goa by various government agencies up to Monday, the state's Chief Electoral Officer.

Addressing a press conference, CEO Kunal (who goes only by his first name) also said that in all 9,361 fresh names had been added to the electoral rolls, taking the total number of voters for the February 14 assembly elections to 11,64,224.

"So far as on date, Rs 10.13 crore total worth of cash, liquor, freebies, etc has been seized by different agencies. This includes Rs 6.30 crore in cash, liquor valued at Rs 2.44 crore, drugs valued at Rs 1.06 crore, Rs 0.2 crore of precious metal and freebies worth Rs 0.30 crore," he said, adding that 81 flying squads were in operation in the coastal state to keep tabs on election-related irregularities.

He also said that there has been upgradation of infrastructure at 1,722 polling booths in the state.

"There are an average of 676 voters per polling station. We are hopeful that this is a manageable number. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. for 11 hours," Kunal said.

Kunal also said that according to the latest Election Commission directives, physical public meetings will be allowed in Goa with a maximum of 1,000 persons or 50 per cent of capacity of grounds.

"Door to door campaigning is now allowed with 20 people. 500 persons can be present at indoor meetings or at 50 percent capacity of the hall," he said.

He also said that a total of 38 election (irregularity-related) FIRs had been registered in the state.

"We are monitoring social media platforms through digi-teams. They are also following Covid appropriate behaviour violations," Kunal said.