Poll freebies: How to get carton of liquor for Rs 20

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, May 31

Politicians make loud and frequent promise of freebies such as household rations, electronic items or goods. Some benefits, such as liquor, are provided discreetly. The Tribune recently came across the most current method being used by political parties to distribute alcohol to woo voters in Chandigarh.

When campaigning started in Chandigarh, T-shirts, caps and carry bags were distributed to those attending political rallies. On some occasions, kids were given pastel colours so that they could carry party flags in their neighbourhood. Close to the polling day, however, alcohol becomes the most prominent commodity on the list of ‘freebies’.

This is my experience: Two days before polling, a source informs me about the way liquor is being distributed by political parties. Since I did a similar story during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, I ask the source about the method being used to distribute alcohol this time around. The source, out of nowhere, invites me to have a first-hand experience of it.

The very next day, while I was covering a rally in Chandigarh, I get a call from the source. I ask him the “free alcohol” he was talking about, and he meets me a short while later and hands me a Rs 20 note. I am supposed to go to a specific liquor vend and hand it over — and voila! I’d get a case of liquor.

I and a photojournalist reach the liquor shop. To my surprise, I see a person holding a Rs 20 note complaining about a particular liquor brand over the phone. As we enter the shop, an employee maintaining the stock register asks me what I need. I pull out that Rs 20 note and hand it over to him. As I watch him inspect the note, another gentleman steps in and takes the Rs 20 note. After checking it one final time, he passes it on to the man at the main counter. This man, in turn, marks it with a pencil and asks his staff to get a carton of “American Pride” whisky. Soon, a carton of this brand is handed over to us, and we walk out of the vend.

We remain outside the shop for a while to check if we managed to record the whole scene on camera, and are glad to find that we did manage to record the most relevant parts.

Later, I meet my source and hand over the liquor to him.

All thanks to this man and the trust he put in me, I managed to uncover this new way of distributing liquor. I’m not naming the political party involved because I’m aware that most major parties are indulging in this practice. A story on how liquor was being distributed in a clandestine manner was published in these columns on May 31.