Country liquor flows as countryside casts its vote

NEW DELHI: There are several businesses that flourish during the election season; one such business that no insider wants to talk about in the open is that of country liquor.

Come elections and gur manufacturers, molasses traders and sugar millers with country liquor production licence across North India cut sweet deals with political parties and candidates to sell country liquor or raw material for production of alcohol, many of them confided in ET in hushed tones.

UP, which elects the maximum number of LS members, is at the centre of such activities. Gur prices shot up by Rs 170 per quintal in just a month at the Muzzafarnagar mandi to reach a three-year high of Rs 1,200 per quintal as campaigning gained momentum.

A leading gur trader at the mandi said the demand, which is typically 4 lakh kg per day, increased by around 20%-25% during March–April. “No one would confirm that it’s the liquor producers who are buying in bulk, but the increase in volume during election season is actually because of them,” the person said.

UP accounts for about half of the national output and consumption of country liquor. A trader at Muzzafarnagar mandi said it’s the local parties, i.e., BSP and SP, and independents who mostly buy liquor to woo the rural voters.

“Parties such as BJP and Congress shy away from such activity, but then it depends on the candidate. Anyone with a little clout would oblige his voters around polls,” the trader said.

Historically, country liquor production and sales jump by 5%-10% in an election year.