Gram panchayat polls: Liquor shops closed for 5 days

The district authorities have enforced five-day closure of liquor shops, from where permit holders can buy liquor in the dry state, in view of the gram panchayats polls in Gujarat tomorrow.

The Vadodara City Police Commissionerate last week asked liquor shops owners here to keep their outlets closed from today to December 30, as per the guidelines of the Election Commission.

Gujarat is a dry state, where only those persons who are holding liquor permits on health ground are authorised to purchase it from the shops.

The Gujarat State Election Commission (SEC) had last month announced that elections to 10,318 gram panchayats in the state will be held on December 27, and the results will be announced on December 29.
 
As per the Panchayats Department, there are 14,017 gram panchayats in the state while the total number of villages is 18,584. The tenure of 10,318 panchayats is ending in December.

Gram panchayat elections are not fought on party symbols. Each voter is required to cast two votes, one for the sarpanch's post and another for electing panchayat member from his/her ward.