Liquor, drugs, freebies worth over ₹33 crore seized in poll-bound Bihar

The Election Commission on Wednesday said that liquor, drugs, cash, and other freebies worth ₹33.97 crore were seized in Bihar since the announcement of the schedule for the Assembly election on October 6.

The election to the 243-seat Bihar Assembly will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11. Votes will be counted on November 14.

The EC said in a statement that expenditure observers had already been deployed to monitor the election expenses incurred by candidates. They will also meet all the teams engaged in expenditure monitoring.

Flying squads, surveillance teams, and video surveillance units are working round the clock to monitor any suspected instances of money power or other inducements being used to sway the voters, it said.

Online update

The poll body said that the commission had also activated an online system called Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) for reporting interceptions/seizures made by surveillance teams and enforcement agencies on a real-time basis during the election period.

Ramps and Braille slips

In a separate statement, the EC said that it had directed the Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) to ensure that the election process is made accessible to persons with disabilities (PwDs). All polling stations in the State should be located on the ground floor or road entry level, and should have ramps with proper gradient for the convenience of PwD electors and senior citizens on wheelchairs, it said.

It said that PwD electors and senior citizens should be given priority at polling booths. In order to help persons with visual impairment, the commission has directed the issue of accessible voter information slips with Braille features, along with the regular voter information slips.

These facilities should be made available at each of the 90,712 polling stations in Bihar, the EC said. Additionally, in another initiative, 292 polling stations will be exclusively managed by persons with disabilities.