Assembly elections 2026: Inside EC's crackdown on cash, liquors, drugs, freebies and more as seizures surpass ₹650 cr

The Election Commission’s enforcement activities across poll-bound states this month have led to seizures worth ₹651.51 crore since the activation of the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) on 26 February, covering cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other items up to 5 April, the EC said on Sunday.

Among the states, West Bengal reported the highest total seizures at ₹319 crore. This includes ₹11 crore in cash, over 21.29 lakh litres of liquor valued at ₹55 crore, drugs worth ₹65 crore, precious metals valued at ₹39 crore, and freebies or other items amounting to ₹150 crore.

Tamil Nadu follows with total seizures of ₹170 crore, including ₹30 crore in cash, liquor worth ₹2 crore (74,029 litres), drugs valued at ₹67 crore, precious metals at ₹8 crore, and freebies worth ₹63 crore.

Assam recorded total seizures of ₹97 crore, with ₹4 crore in cash, over 6.84 lakh litres of liquor valued at ₹20 crore, drugs worth ₹56 crore, precious metals at ₹4 crore, and ₹13 crore under freebies or other items.

Kerala reported seizures totaling ₹58 crore, comprising ₹8 crore in cash, liquor valued at ₹2 crore (64,862 litres), drugs worth ₹41 crore, ₹1 crore in precious metals, and ₹5 crore in freebies.

Puducherry recorded the lowest total seizures at ₹7 crore, which includes ₹0.2 crore in cash, 11,068 litres of liquor valued at ₹0.3 crore, no drug seizures, ₹6 crore in precious metals, and negligible value under freebies or other items ( ₹0.01 crore).

‘5,173 flying squads deployed’

The EC noted that it had held multiple review meetings with Chief Secretaries, Chief Electoral Officers, Directors General of Police and other senior officials from the five poll-going states and Union Territory, as well as their 12 neighbouring states and Union Territories, along with heads of enforcement agencies.

During these meetings, the Commission directed authorities to ensure that elections are conducted in a “violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement-free manner”.

“To ensure this, over 5,173 Flying squads have been deployed across the States/UT. To ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise Nakas at different locations,” the poll body stated.

The dates declared by the EC are as follows: counting and results for all states will take place on May 4. Voting in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be held on April 9, while Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23. West Bengal will go to the polls in two phases on April 23 and 29.