Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi R Alice Vaz said on Friday that seizures totaling Rs 194 crore have been reported so far in the run-up to the assembly elections in the national capital, scheduled to be held in single phase on February 5.

Briefing the media, the CEO said, “Total value of seizure made till date is Rs 194 crore. This includes Flying Squad Team (FST)/ Static Surveillance Team (SST) also have intercepted Rs 8.92 crore.”

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She said the total amount of seizure made at the 175 inter-state border checkposts in the city was Rs 1.2 crore. This included liquor, drugs, precious materials and freebies.

Besides, around 15,65,550 posters/banners and other defacement materials were removed by local bodies so far, the CEO informed.

She also informed that a total of 699 candidates are in fray for the Delhi Assembly polls.

“Mock Polls were also conducted with randomly selected EVMs by contesting candidates/their representative in their presence as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India. Political parties/contesting candidates were duly informed in advance at every stage of EVM activities and were involved in the mock poll process,” the CEO said.

Highlighting the arrangements being made for the upcoming polls, Vaz said, “A total of 1,09,955 manpower is deployed as on date. Out of these, 68,733 are polling personnel which includes staff deployed for the flying squad team, SST, Sector Magistrates, team for Expenditure Monitoring, Control Room Staffs, Micro Observers and counting staff. This excludes the police personnel deployed for election duty.”

She informed that the number of security personnel deployed is 220 companies of CAPF, 19,000 HG and 35,626 Delhi Police personnel.

“We have 19 counting centres in 11 districts. Our counting plan has been approved by the Election Commission of India,” Vaz said.

On the home voting facility, she said, “Till date, 5,848 postal ballots have been cast through home voting facility. This is also called as vote from home initiative.”

It may be mentioned here that former vice-president Hamid Ansari, veteran BJP leader and former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi, and Gursharan Kaur, wife of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, exercised their franchise by availing the home voting facility.

The home voting facility is available to voters above 85 years of age and PwDs offering them the option to cast their votes from their homes.

The CEO appealed to the people to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise on February 5.