Almost half of the cash seized in the entire country during this election season is from Andhra Pradesh. The Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath said that police and election officials have seized a total of ₹232 crore in the country, since 5 March, 2014, out of which ₹105 crore is (or 46 per cent) from Andhra Pradesh alone.
Sampath has expressed concerns over the enormous electoral corruption in the state.
On 5 March, the Election Commission (EC) announced the general elections in the country and since then ₹105 crore has been seized in AP by the patrolling police and election officials, Sampath said, while reviewing the election preparations in AP on 19 April, according to various media reports.
Polls are going to be held in Andhra Pradesh on 30 April and 7 May, simultaneously for both Lok Sabha and the State Assembly. This Lok Sabha and Assembly election will become the last poll to be held in the united AP, as Telangana will be carved out as a separate state on 2 June.
After seizing the sizeable amount, the EC has intensified patrolling in the state to keep a check on cash flow during this election season, the EC Commissioner said.
The EC has also asked banks to furnish details of accounts wherever suspicious transactions were found.
Meanwhile, it is reported that activists of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) have attacked Nara Lokesh, son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, on Sunday at an election road show in Maheboobnagar district in Telangana region.
One of the activists threw bottles at Lokesh when he was about to address the road show from the top of his campaign vehicle. However, security guards around Lokesh stood around him and warded off the attack. However, TDP's Lok Sabha candidate of Nagar Kurnool Bakkani Narsimhulu was injured.
Police arrested the attacker who threw the bottles and the enraged TDP supporters torched the car of the TRS activist.
(ED:VS)
