Bengal has sprung a surprise this election season, outstripping powerhouse Tamil Nadu in seizures of purported bribes to voters.

The value of the unaccounted goods seized during election surveillance in Bengal has turned out to be nearly double that in Tamil Nadu, which has consistently been among the toppers in poll-time seizures.

Tamil Nadu’s projected Gross State Domestic Product for the previous fiscal is expected to cross ₹31 lakh crore, while Bengal’s has been pegged at a little over ₹18 crore.

Yet, since the polls were declared, ₹319 crore worth of liquor, drugs, precious metals and “freebies” — potential gifts to voters — have been seized in Bengal, comfortably outstripping the southern state’s ₹170 crore. The total seizure from the four poll-bound states and lone Union Territory is ₹651.51 crore.

Tamil Nadu, which has maintained a higher GSDP than Bengal since the turn of the millennium, topped the seizures list during the 2019 general election. Elections to the Vellore seat had to be postponed that year after ₹11.48 crore in cash was seized from a person linked to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Gujarat and Rajasthan pushed Tamil Nadu to third place in 2024, riding on
drug busts.

Enhanced surveillance is the likeliest cause of Bengal’s seizure bounty this summer.

While the Election Commission no longer reveals the exact figures of security force deployment, it is understood that around 30 per cent of the 8.5 lakh security personnel on poll duty in this round of Assembly polls are in Bengal.

Trinamool has long accused the poll panel of going after the state with a vengeance -- through the SIR and the mass transfer of officials -- to dislodge its government.

The biggest chunk of the seizure pie in Bengal is made up of ₹150 crore worth of “freebies” — as the commission calls goods such as clothes and cooking utensils.

These are seized if their destination or origin are suspicious or unclear in the documents carried by those they are seized from. This happens mostly at checkpoints or during raids on premises based on specific intelligence, often gathered through GST data.

In all other states, drugs make up the biggest share of the seizures — implying that narcotic raids, often unrelated to polls, have contributed to the stats.

A poll panel statement said that ₹11 crore in cash; 21,29,103 litres of booze worth ₹55 crore, drugs worth ₹65 crore and precious metals worth ₹39 crore too had been seized in Bengal.

“…5,173 Flying squads have been deployed across the States/ UT to ensure that the complaints are attended to within 100 minutes,” the commission said.

“Besides this, over 5,200 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) have also been deployed for setting up surprise Nakas (barricades) at different locations.”

The surprise statistics now pose a challenge to Bengali creativity — can they
now upstage Tamilians in generating memes on political corruption?

Even Tamil-origin Republican hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy had become the subject of memes during the 2024 US primaries, after he was seen buying beer for voters in a pub. While this is legal in America, it’s perhaps more common — although illegal — during polls in India.

The meme makers said Ramaswamy’s flowing generosity to voters was the
most political thing to do for a Tamilian.