Delhi liquor shops may remain closed on October 9 and 10 after the Delhi Police asked the Delhi Government to direct liquor vendors to shut their outlets ahead of a planned protest at Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The request has been made over possible law-and-order concerns linked to the gathering.
According to a letter sent to the Delhi Government, the police asked the Excise Department to instruct liquor vendors to keep their shops closed on Friday and Saturday. The proposed closure is connected to a protest called jointly by the Cockroach Janta Party and the All India Students’ Association for October 10. Several opposition political parties are also expected to participate, according to the report.
The police has not granted permission for the protest at Jantar Mantar. It has cited the imposition of Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, under which gatherings are restricted. The police position is that no gathering will be allowed at the designated protest site.
The proposed liquor-shop closure is part of a wider security response for central Delhi. The police has installed multi-layered barricades on roads leading towards Jantar Mantar and Parliament. Its intelligence unit has estimated that more than 50,000 people could arrive from Delhi and neighbouring states.
The police plan is to prevent protesters from entering New Delhi or approaching Jantar Mantar, according to officers cited in the report. This places the planned restrictions within a broader effort to control movement around the capital’s administrative core, where protest access, road security and protection of government buildings often require coordination between multiple agencies.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has made 221 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces available to the Delhi Police for law-and-order duties from October 8 to 12. The deployment amounts to around 23,000 personnel, making it one of the largest central-force deployments for protest-related security in the Capital, according to the report.
Central Reserve Police Force companies are being brought in from Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Officers said the additional forces would assist the Delhi Police in managing the protests, securing key government buildings and maintaining law and order in central Delhi.
The police request to close liquor vends remains distinct from the security restrictions already announced around the protest area. The supplied report does not state whether the Delhi Government or the Excise Department has accepted the request, or whether a formal closure order has been issued. The next steps will depend on the government’s response to the police communication and the enforcement of restrictions before the October 10 protest.
