BELAGAVI: Thousands of goodies—cookers, iron boxes and gas stoves— stored in an apartment by Mrs Laxmi Hebbalkar, president of state unit of the Congress, were seized by officers of the Election Commission in this border city on Saturday.
According to official sources, all cookers, stoves and iron boxes which were meant to be distributed among voters in Belagavi (Rural) Assembly segment by Mrs Hebbalkar were seized from the apartment. Several other household items which were meant to be given to voters also were also recovered by the officials. The items were packed in gift boxes with a printed photograph of Mrs Hebbalkar on each of them.
Over last few weeks, loads of cookers and stoves were being taken in trucks from the same apartment situated in Hanuman Nagar to various parts of Belagavi (Rural) constituency and distributed among voters. A video clip in which Mrs Hebbalkar's son Mrinal Hebbalkar was handing over cookers to voters after they unloaded from a truck had turned viral on social media sites recently. However, the leader reportedly continued distribution of various household items to voters even after the code of conduct came into force.
On Saturday afternoon, a truck load of cookers packed in boxes was intercepted near the deputy commissioner's residence in Belagavi. Following a tip off by senior BJP leader Anil Benake, the truck was stopped and policemen as well as officers on election duty arrived to take over the gifts.
