Ban liquor sale a week before rural election: Opposition

BHUBANESWAR: The opposition BJP and Congress on Saturday demanded complete ban on sale of liquor seven days before the panchayat polls scheduled for early next year.
During an all-party meeting convened by the State Election Commission (SEC) to discuss various issues pertaining to the rural polls, all the parties unanimously raised issues of increasing the candidates’ expenditure limit during the poll and to allow use of more vehicles.
BJP leader Sankarsan Parida said the party demanded that the poll panel should ensure complete ban on sale of liquor seven days before the poll. Stating that sale of liquor creates hindrances on free and fair election, Congress leader Ganeswar Behera also demanded ban on sale of liquor at least three days before the election.
At present, sale of liquor has been restricted on the eve and the day of election in the poll bound areas.
Both the parties also demanded to increase the maximum expenditure limit for sarpanch and samiti member from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,60,000 and from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for zilla parishad member.
Senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra, who represented the party in the all-party meeting, said all the parties unanimously demanded to raise the maximum expenditure limit during the panchayat poll.
As the electoral roll revision process for the rural poll would start soon, the poll panel also sought cooperation from political parties for error-free preparation of electoral roll.
State Election Commissioner Aditya Padhi said the poll panel would soon issue detail programme for the electoral roll revision process, a process that would take at least 45 to 60 days.
For the first time in the panchayat poll, there will be Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) id in the electoral roll with an aim to ensure error-free preparation of electoral roll, said Padhi.
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