Rajasthan village holds vote to shut liquor shop

After conducting a mass referendum on Saturday, Mandavar village panchayat in Bhim, Rajasthan became the third place in the state to say no to liquor. The panchayat had organised a vote on Saturday on imposing a ban on liquor in the village. The referendum results stated that 1,623 people voted against liquor shops, while only 111 voted in favour of liquor shop in the village.

Bhanwar Lal Janagal, SDO Bhim (Rajsamand), told DNA, "1,623 people have said 'no', while 111 said 'yes'."

There was a total of 2,711 voters, out of which 1,789 votes were polled. 55 votes were rejected. According to local sources, only 1,383 votes were needed to get the liquor shop to shut, but people came out in large number to vote.

Women showed up in numbers to cast their votes during the referendum, which started at 8 am on Saturday.

This decision makes Mandavar panchayat the second in Rajsamand where people have come up against liquor.

In 2016, another village Kachhbali said 'no' to liquor. In that referendum 90 per cent of the total village population had voted against liquor.

The Rajasthan Excise (Closure of Country Liquor Shop by Local Option) Rules, 1975, has a provision to close liquor shops through a panchayat voting if enough people vote against it.

The provision was unused till March, 2016 when the women of Kachhbali approached the district administration to conduct this vote. In another instance, Bajral (Rajsamand) which took to the same process in August 2017 liquor ban failed by a margin of 129 votes.