Election Commission press release · 5 April 2026 · pibtracker filter

General Elections and bye-elections 2026: Seizures surpass Rs. 650 crores

PRID2249121 MinistryElection Commission Released5 April 2026 Reading5 min

Posted On: 05 APR 2026 2:53PM by PIB Delhi Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. The Commission has directed the State/UT governments to ensure strict compliance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). It may be recalled that the Commission has held multiple review meetings with the Chief Secretaries, CEOs, DGPs, and senior officers from the 5 poll-going states/UTs and their 12 bordering states/UTs along with the Heads of Enforcement Agencies and directed them to ensure violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement- free elections . To ensure this, over 5,173 Flying squads have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes . Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise Nakas at different locations. Since the activation of the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) on 26th February 2026, the data up to 5th April 2026 is presented below. S. N State Cash (Rs. Crore) Liquor Qty (Litres) Liquor Value (Rs. Crore) Drugs Value (Rs. Crore) Precious Metal Value (Rs. Crore) Freebies /Other Value (Rs. Crore) Total (Rs. Crore) 1. West Bengal 11 21,29,103 55 65 39 150 319 2. Tamil Nadu 30 74,029 2 67 8 63 170 3. Assam 4 6,84,627 20 56 4 13 97 4. Kerala 8 64,862 2 41 1 5 58 5. Puducherry 0.2 11,068 0.3 0 6 0.01 7 TOTAL 53.2 29,63,689 79.3 230 58 231.01 651.51 The Commission has also stressed that the enforcement authorities should ensure that ordinary citizens are not inconvenienced or harassed during the checking and inspection for the enforcement of these directives. District Grievance Committees have also been setup to address any grievances in this regard. Citizens/political parties can report MCC violations using the C-Vigil Module on ECINET. **** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2249121) Visitor Counter : 1553 Read this release in: Tamil , Malayalam , Bengali , Bengali-TR , Urdu , हिन्दी , Assamese , Punjabi , Gujarati , Telugu Election Commission General Elections and bye-elections 2026: Seizures surpass Rs. 650 crores Posted On: 05 APR 2026 2:53PM by PIB Delhi Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. The Commission has directed the State/UT governments to ensure strict compliance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). It may be recalled that the Commission has held multiple review meetings with the Chief Secretaries, CEOs, DGPs, and senior officers from the 5 poll-going states/UTs and their 12 bordering states/UTs along with the Heads of Enforcement Agencies and directed them to ensure violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement- free elections . To ensure this, over 5,173 Flying squads have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes . Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise Nakas at different locations. Since the activation of the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) on 26th February 2026, the data up to 5th April 2026 is presented below. S. N State Cash (Rs. Crore) Liquor Qty (Litres) Liquor Value (Rs. Crore) Drugs Value (Rs. Crore) Precious Metal Value (Rs. Crore) Freebies /Other Value (Rs. Crore) Total (Rs. Crore) 1. West Bengal 11 21,29,103 55 65 39 150 319 2. Tamil Nadu 30 74,029 2 67 8 63 170 3. Assam 4 6,84,627 20 56 4 13 97 4. Kerala 8 64,862 2 41 1 5 58 5. Puducherry 0.2 11,068 0.3 0 6 0.01 7 TOTAL 53.2 29,63,689 79.3 230 58 231.01 651.51 The Commission has also stressed that the enforcement authorities should ensure that ordinary citizens are not inconvenienced or harassed during the checking and inspection for the enforcement of these directives. District Grievance Committees have also been setup to address any grievances in this regard. Citizens/political parties can report MCC violations using the C-Vigil Module on ECINET. **** PK/GDH/RP (Release ID: 2249121) Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections in 6 states on March 15,2026. The Commission has directed the State/UT governments to ensure strict compliance with the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">It may be recalled that the Commission has held multiple review meetings with the Chief Secretaries, CEOs, DGPs, and senior officers from the 5 poll-going states/UTs and their 12 bordering states/UTs along with the Heads of Enforcement Agencies and directed them to ensure violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement- free elections.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">To ensure this, over 5,173 Flying squads have been deployed across the States/UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes. Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise Nakas at different locations.</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Since the activation of the Electronic Seizure Management System (ESMS) on 26th February 2026, the data up to 5th April 2026 is presented below.</li>   <table align="center" border="1" bordercolor="#ccc" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" class="Table" style="border-collapse:collapse"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width:35.2pt">   S. N </td> <td style="width:85.1pt">   State </td> <td style="width:49.75pt"> Cash (Rs. Crore) </td> <td style="width:78.05pt">   Liquor Qty (Litres) </td> <td style="width:58.4pt"> Liquor Value (Rs. Crore) </td> <td style="width:49.6pt"> Drugs Value (Rs. Crore) </td> <td style="width:67.5pt"> Precious Metal Value (Rs. Crore) </td> <td style="width:65.55pt"> Freebies /Other Value (Rs. Crore) </td> <td style="width:51.3pt"> Total (Rs. Crore) </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:35.2pt"> 1. </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:85.1pt"> West Bengal </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:49.75pt"> 11 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:78.05pt"> 21,29,103 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:58.4pt"> 55 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:49.6pt"> 65 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:67.5pt"> 39 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:65.55pt"> 150 </td> <td style="background-color:#cccccc; width:51.3pt"> 319 </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:

For UPSC

West Bengal tops seizures at ₹319 crore; elections announced 15 March 2026 for Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal; 5,173 flying squads, 100-minute complaint response mandate, Electronic Seizure Management System activated 26 February 2026.

Original PIB release
pib.gov.in · PRID 2249121

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General Elections and bye-elections 2026: Seizures surpass Rs. 650 crores

For UPSC

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