With the seizure of a large quantity of cash and liquor during elections in Uttarakhand, state authorities have now sought advice from the election commission in this regard.

The commission had seized nearly Rs 1.5 crore and 14,000 litres of liquor during the election campaign from various parts of the hill state.

"We have sought guidelines from the election commission regarding what to do with the seizure contents," Radha Raturi, chief electoral officer of the state told PTI here.

The election commission had devised a multi-pronged strategy to check the growing influence of money power in order to cut rising expenditures in the elections.

For the better conduct of the elections, a tough monitoring system was put in place where candidates were asked to open separate bank accounts for the purpose of election spending. All the 788 candidates were made to show the details of such accounts to the returning officers thrice during the election period.

Election observers kept a register to maintain the accounts of these candidates so that they did not cross the ceiling of Rs 11 lakh which had been raised from Rs 8 lakh this time.

With the help of intelligence gathering, the flying squads had been set up for conducting surprise raids in various suspected areas like airports, railway stations, bus stands, hotels and farm-houses where money usually flows for the purpose of elections.

On the paid news menace, the commission took various steps that include a watchdog with the help of media persons to monitor such cases.