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Delhi Assembly Elections 2025: Booze, Bucks & Busts! Record 202% Spike In Seizures

As the Delhi Elections approach, authorities have intensified their crackdown on electoral malpractices.

The Delhi assembly elections are on February 5, 2025, for which the election authorities have doubled their vigil in preventing electoral malpractices and disbursal of such illicit inducements. According to a notification issued by ECI in tandem with Delhi police, illegal liquors, drugs, black money, and all other freebies to influence votes are under a stiff crackdown by various law enforcement agencies. The seizures and arrests have increased remarkably, by 202% over the previous elections. This means that authorities do not sleep with their eyes closed to ensure the electoral process is free and fair.

Sharp Increase in Seizures and Arrests

The comparison between the Delhi polls of 2020 and 2025 reflects a historically unprecedented surge in action against violations. The scale of the crackdown is captured in the statistics given below:

  • Excise Act Violations: In 2020, 524 cases were registered, with 523 arrests. By 2025, this figure rose to 696 cases and 712 arrests.
  • Liquor Seizures: Authorities confiscated 36,800 litres of illicit liquor in 2020. This increased to 40,600 liters in 2025.
  • Arms Act Cases: In 2020, 197 cases were recorded, with 208 arrests. By 2025, the numbers rose to 231 cases and 258 arrests. Seized arms increased from 231 to 255, while confiscated cartridges grew from 312 to 366.
  • Narcotics Seizures: Cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act saw a staggering rise from 23 cases and 30 arrests in 2020 to 92 cases and 99 arrests in 2025.
  • Cash Seizures: The most prominent increase was in unaccounted cash seizures, which jumped from ₹1.1 crore in 2020 to ₹4.2 crore in 2025.

These figures signify how law enforcement agencies are moving proactively to ensure an openly held election devoid of fraud.

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The comparison between the Delhi polls of 2020 and 2025 reflects a historically unprecedented surge in action against violations.

Strategic Enforcement Measures

To address the widespread provision of inducements, there are several steps the authorities are taking. Key among these is:

  • Identification of Hotspots: Police forces have identified areas with a history of electoral malpractices and are patrolling and monitoring them intensely.
  • Enhanced Surveillance: Flying squads and static surveillance teams have doubled since previous elections. This has allowed the authorities to intervene immediately whenever illegal activities are noticed.
  • Preventive Actions: Over 1,100 individuals involved in organized crime have been extended from Delhi. Additionally, 17,879 individuals have been taken into preventive custody under various legal provisions.
  • Border Security Strengthening: Security levels at interstate borders have increased as cash, liquor, and drug smuggling are effectively prevented. Some technologies used include CCTV cameras to monitor suspicious behaviour and drone surveillance.

These techniques are critical in ensuring no party benefits during the electoral process through illegal and unfair means that may compromise its integrity.

Technological Interventions for Election Security

To make the election process more efficient and transparent, the Delhi Police’s election cell has brought in innovative mobile applications that can be used for the same:

  • Chunav Mitra: An AI-driven chatbot that distributes necessary directives and policies from the Delhi Police and the Indian Election Commission. It guarantees that security guards stay current on the newest procedures.
  • Cyber Sarthi: This program offers cybersecurity rules to ensure that police officers utilize digital tools and platforms safely while on duty.

Including technology in law enforcement will effectively address election-related violations and prevent digital manipulation.

Delhi Assembly Election 2025
These techniques are critical in ensuring no party benefits during the electoral process through illegal and unfair means that may compromise its integrity.

Political Context and Its Implications

It is happening at a time when the election campaign is very competitive. Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party has been out of Delhi for over thirty years and is determined to win back Delhi. To do so, it offers incentives to all strata – from poor women and old citizens to students coming from lower-class families. This strategy mirrors that of AAP for a long time, and through providing free water, electricity, and healthcare services, AAP has made a voter base for the last ten years.

Both parties have been accused of populist policies that, though they bring immediate results, are creating fiscal viability issues. According to opinion polls, the AAP will most likely win, as nearly 50% of respondents believed that the AAP had a better right to continue government. A blot on the AAP’s electoral prospects, however, is its heavy dependence on state-sponsored subsidies, with experts cautioning against its economic viability in the long term.

Challenges in Enforcing Electoral Integrity

The measures put across do not account for the string of intrigue that still mars electoral integrity. The most serious obstacles are:

  • Covert Distribution of Inducements: Even when surveillance is intensified, the parties and candidates’ inducements do not hold back.
  • Social Media Manipulation: Along with electronic media, social media has become a new weapon for manipulating information and votes.
  • Legal Loopholes:  The laws that regulate electoral conduct always contain loopholes that indirectly offer some inducement to voters, which makes it hard to enforce.

The authorities constantly refine their strategies to ensure electoral malpractices do not undermine the democratic process.

Delhi Assembly Elections 2025
The seizure record and arrests made before the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections explain why free and fair voting seems to be a priority commitment from the law enforcement authorities this time.

Public Awareness and Voter Education

Public awareness of how bribery affects the democratic process remains essential in eradicating malpractices related to elections. The Election Commission has, through various awareness programs, enlightened voters against illegal offers. These include:

  • Awareness Campaigns: These broad awareness campaigns, carried out through television, radio, and social media channels, bring electoral corruption’s evil effects to the people’s attention.
  • Whistleblower Platforms: The ECI has initiated whistleblowing portals, where citizens are able to post their complaints secretly against bribery and malpractice of any person against them.
  • Community Engagement: Through civil society organisations and volunteers, the right to vote and the moral electoral processes have been motivated in the masses.

These initiatives would enable voters to make informed choices and deter accepting unlawful inducements.

Conclusion: Delhi Assembly Elections

The seizure record and arrests made before the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections explain why free and fair voting seems to be a priority commitment from the law enforcement authorities this time. They are attempting their best through multiple public campaigns, multiple technical measures, and the search for strategic enforcement while making this time an election risk-free for voting.

In a political tussle for domination, one keeps an eye on the ballot because illegal acts go against democracy. The electoral process will determine whether these projects will click, with elections held correctly and public confidence in the electoral process. Continued vigilance and proactive measures to guard democracy ensure that people’s will is expressed freely without compulsion or coercion.

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