Tripura: Enforcement agencies seize valuables, cash worth over 9 crore in last one month

Agartala, Dec 24: Enforcement Agencies acting at the behest of Election Commission of India seized valuables and Cash worth Rs Rs.9,36,50,449 in the intervening period of November 23 last to December 23, a press statement from the office of Chief Electoral Officer said.

According to the CEO office, the amount of seizure is much higher that what was in 2018. "The total seizure amount in Assembly Election, 2018 was Rs. 2,57,19,00", the press release stated.

Speaking on the issue, Chief Electoral Officer Kiran Gitte said, the Election Commission has been working relentlessly to ensure a level playing field for all the stakeholders and such drives will continue in the future as well.

"The Election Commission of India has directed the CEOs of all poll bound states to activate the nodal agencies of Election Expenditure Monitoring. In November 2022, as per the instruction, Election Expenditure Monitoring agencies have been brought under the umbrella of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tripura and accordingly pressed into action to trace election related expenditure", said the press statement.

"Since the initial training, the State Nodal Officers, all the agencies/departments have come together to strictly enforce the guidelines regarding expenditure monitoring. The departments such as Income Tax, Tripura Excise, Central GST, State GST, Tripura Police, BSF, Narcotics control, Enforcement Directorate are the major stakeholders in Election Expenditure Monitoring", the statement added.