Gujarat Assembly elections: Liquor worth Rs 2.5 lakh seized every hour

With just over a week left for the first phase of polling, police in Gujarat are trying their best to control the flow of liquor into the state.

Police have so far seized liquor worth Rs 10.74 crore since assembly elections were announced on November 3, a report in the Times of India said. It said that, till November 21, booze worth Rs 2. 50 lakh has been seized by the state every hour.

Police have intensified its action against illicit liquor businesses, said, officers.


A senior police officer said, "To ensure free and fair poll, it needs to be ensured there is no free flow of liquor in the state".

In 18 days, police seized about 1 lakh litres of country liquor and 1. 97 lakh litres of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), worth Rs 10. 74 crore, according to official figures.

In October, liquor worth Rs 17. 07 crore was confiscated.

In September, booze worth Rs 15. 84 crore was seized.

A senior police officer said, "Between November 3 and 18, Gujarat police registered 25,291 cases and arrested 20,761 people for violating the Prohibition Act."

Number of prohibition cases and persons arrested has also increased drastically, the officer was quoted as saying

"In October, police registered 14,798 prohibition cases and arrested 14,547 persons. The number of cases under the Prohibition Act was 14,310 in September, with 14,459 persons arrested," he said.

Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.