Bengaluru hotels body seeks dry day rollback, warns of ₹500 crore losses: ‘Unnecessary hardship’

The Bangalore Hotels Association has urged the Karnataka government to withdraw the dry day order issued for the upcoming biennial elections to four Legislative Council seats, citing projected business losses of over ₹500 crore.

In a letter dated October 13 to chief minister D K Shivakumar, the association said that dry day had been declared from 4 pm on October 21 until October 23, and on October 27, the day of vote counting.

The association said the restrictions would cause significant financial losses to bars, restaurants and pubs, and adversely affect the hospitality industry as well as the revenue of the state government's Excise Department.

"The election has only around 20,000 voters, of whom approximately 15,000 are women. Declaring a dry day across Bengaluru city (excluding the Police Commissionerate limits) in connection with an election involving such a limited number of voters will cause unnecessary hardship to liquor vendors and the hospitality industry," it claimed.

Furthermore, the association also claimed that this decision is likely to result in business losses exceeding ₹500 crore and adversely affect the revenue of the state government's Excise Department.

"Therefore, in the interest of the hospitality industry, we humbly request you to withdraw the Dry Day declared in connection with the election and the vote-counting process," it added.

The biennial elections to four Karnataka Legislative Council seats - two graduates' constituencies and two teachers' constituencies - will be held on October 23, from 8 am to 4 pm.

The constituencies going to polls are Karnataka South-East Graduates', Karnataka West Graduates', Karnataka North-East Teachers' and Bangalore Teachers'.