Clamp down on politically motivated crimes, CEC tells Maharashtra DGP | India News - The Indian Express

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday asked the Maharashtra Director General of Police to clamp down on crimes that may vitiate the electoral space ahead of Assembly polls next month, EC sources said.

The poll panel held a review meeting on TUesday with chief secretaries, police chiefs and other top officials of Maharashtra, Jharkhand and other poll-bound states to assess the law and order situation for the elections. At the meeting, the CEC expressed concern over “politically motivated crimes” in Maharashtra, a source said. The CEC asked the state DGP to ensure a strict clamp down on crimes that disturb the level playing field, the source said.

Earlier this month, NCP leader and former Maharashtra Minister Baba Siddique was murdered in Mumbai, days before the announcement of Assembly elections.

Sources said the seizures of cash, liquor, drugs and other freebies in the two states had already exceeded the total seizures during the 2019 polls. A total of `345 crore has been seized since October 15 when the dates for Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and bypolls in other states were announced.

The total seizures in Jharkhand and Maharashtra so far stand at `114 crore and `175 crore respectively. The total seizure in 2019 was `122.67 crore. Maharashtra goes to polls on November 20 and Jharkhand on November 13 and 20. The counting of votes is scheduled for November 23.

The Election Commission on Tuesday rejected Congress's allegations on irregularities in the recently-concluded Haryana assembly elections, saying the party was raising "the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome like it did in the past.

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