TN tops in overall seizure during polls

With the sixth phase of polling scheduled on Sunday, the State until Saturday recorded seizures worth Rs 949 crore. The seized items include cash, gold, liquor and freebies.

The issue was part of the discussion by the Election Commission of India (ECI), which reviewed arrangements in place for the counting of votes on May 23 in Tamil Nadu through video conferencing on Saturday.

The top brass of the ECI led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora reviewed the counting arrangements in place and the security arrangements in TN, where votes of 38 Lok Sabha seats and 22 vacant Assembly seats will be counted.

Further, the commission discussed the phase six of the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 59 parliamentary constituencies on Sunday.

However, there were neither instructions nor discussions related to the rescinded poll for Vellore Lok Sabha seat, where the elections were cancelled due to seizure of large-scale cash, reportedly meant for distribution to voters, informed sources said.

Tamil Nadu during the last phase of elections will have polling to four Assembly seats and repolling in 13 polling stations.

TN Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo had instructed for additional deployment of police in all the four Assembly seats, which goes to bypolls on May 19.