The bottle appears to be dearer than the ballot for some Bengal voters, reasons cited by Election Commission officials for SIR hearing absentees suggest. In two booths in Hooghly’s Haripal, BLOs found that booze had kept two voters away from the hearing centre. The other person told poll officials that he forgot about his scheduled hearing after binge drinking. “Forgot (after) drinking wine,” the BLO noted, taking the liberty to assume the individual’s alcohol preference. “But we have no clue how many such voters skipped their hearings,” the election official said.

Source: The Telegraph February 11, 2026 01:44 UTC