He lauded the efforts of the EC in the last two years to have prevented the age-old practice of distribution of freebies. “You would see the distribution of freebies like liquor, dhotis, saris in the past, but this time we have no such major instances,” Kumar said.
He further stated that no major instance of giving away money was reported in the southern states, which was a common practice in previous elections.
“This is not the first time. We have seized Rs 3,500 crore in the last 11 state assembly elections,” said Kumar, referring to the work done in the last two years.
He also highlighted that Rs 4,381 crore worth drugs were seized during the election period.
He claimed that such stringent measures were possible because of the straight message given to the officials. The goal was to not allow money power that political parties often use. He said that the messaging to the local teams was strong. “They were empowered and fearless. We even checked every helicopter of Central ministers, party leaders and chief ministers,” said Kumar. He also added that the huge number of seizures were done because of the data maintained by the IT department. “Automatic monitoring through the CCMS system helped keep a track,” added Kumar.
