Liquor for tipplers, tea for female voters

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 13

With barely three days left to the elections for the 85 wards of the Municipal Corporation, candidates in their desperation to win are sparing no effort, even if it means serving liquor to voters.

A resident of Batala Road said, “Candidates are giving parchi (slips) to voters by which they can get liquor from a nearby ‘theka’. People who do not drink publicly are sent bottles at their homes. Others are asked to come to a common place.

Though the local police have installed check-posts at all important roads and chowks to check the transport of liquor, the residents claimed that such efforts are not of much use. In the wards, alongside the periphery of the city, the desi hooch (spurious liquor), too, is being distributed.

A local leader said,“As the candidates this time got relatively less time to campaign, the serving of liquor has started late. Money and other sops to lure the voters are reserved for the last night of the campaign. Candidates are also organizing tea parties for female voters, as they generally complain that men are served alcohol, but they do not get anything.”

A police official said, on condition of anonymity, “It is difficult to question people drinking liquor in an ‘ahata’, which is legally authorized to serve liquor. The police can only check if someone has stored or is transporting liquor illegally.”