RJD demands complete liquor ban during polls

Ranchi: RJD’s state unit on Tuesday submitted a memorandum at Jharkhand chief electoral officer L Khiangte’s office and also met chief secretary D K Tiwari demanding total ban on the sale of liquor during the elections. The CEO later said that he would study the memorandum and respond to it.
A six-member party delegation arrived at Khiangte’s office in Dhurwa at 11am and pasted the memorandum outside his office after waiting for him for more than 90 minutes. They then headed to Project Building to meet Tiwari.

In their memorandum, RJD said that the number of liquor shops have increased after they got outsourced to private players under new arrangements by the BJP-led government which came into force on April 1. This will facilitate easy flow of liquor and affect the election process. “From the existing 750 shops, there are now 1,300-plus shops just before the polls. This is against the fair democratic practice during polls,” the letter stated.

RJD state general secretary and chief spokesman Kailash Yadav seemed more upset with CEO’s attitude. “We were at his office at 11am as per the schedule, but he remained busy and did not entertain us despite several reminders. We requested his personal assistant to take our memorandum and eventually put it in front of his office and left,” he said.