KOLKATA: After the polls were announced on March 10, multiple central agencies, including Customs, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and income tax, have seized gold worth Rs 16 crore in Bengal, including seizures amounting to Rs 9 core in Kolkata. The EC has sought a detailed report from these agencies and asked them to enhance inter-agency coordination.According to EC reports, between March 10 and March 28, gold worth nearly Rs 16.5 crore was seized by various agencies in Bengal.“Kolkata, traditionally, is a transit point. It is also the port of entry from south-east Asian countries. However, the pre-poll seizures are being analyzed seriously,” said a senior officer.According to EC, the seizure of gold in Bengal during the 2014 Lok Sabha election was around Rs 2.8 crore. During the 2016 assembly polls, the figure was Rs 7.5 crore.Prompted by this huge seizure in just 18 days, the EC has asked all concerned agencies, including BSF, state police, Customs, DRI, the I-T and Excise departments to submit a report within a week. All of them have also been asked to conduct inter-departmental meetings and make a coordinated effort to stop the flow of cash, gold and liquor in the state. “In addition, the commission is sending 44 expenditure observers for the 42 constituencies of the state. We will also make special arrangements like deployment of assistant expenditure observers, additional flying squads, static surveillance teams and video surveillance teams as required. We are trying to identify the vulnerable constituencies and will put them on 24-hour surveillance,” an EC official said.

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