Bangalore will have a near-dry Valentine’s Day because a legislative council by-election has forced police to order all bars and pubs closed, dismaying restaurateurs.

All restaurants and pubs that serve liquor will have to stay closed from 5pm on February 14 — Valentine’s Day — and the whole of February 15 and 16. They will have to shut down again on February 20, the day of counting.

The polling is on February 16. Election Commission rules stipulate the closure of liquor licencees from 48 hours before the end of polling. Since bars and pubs draw customers mostly in the evening and night, the order turns Valentine’s Day virtually into a dry day.

Bangalore’s restaurants and pubs are staring at huge losses, having already paid decorators to deck out their premises in V-Day red, booked DJs and live bands, made advance payments to secure exotic seafood, and modified the food and beverages menu.

The by-election was necessitated by the March 2023 resignation of Puttanna from the state legislative council and the BJP. He is now contesting on a Congress ticket. The polling authorities have not explained the 11-month gap.

“We are trying to get the state government to intervene and let us remain open till the end of working hours (1am) on February 14 night and from 6pm on February 16 (a Friday and therefore one of the busiest),” Chethan Hegde, Karnataka chapter president of the National Restaurants Association of India and founder-partner of the chain of pubs named 1522, told
The Telegraph.

“We hope the home ministry and the police can convince the Election Commission to allow some relaxation.”

Hegde added: “Although February has only 29 days, our regular expenses, including rents and salaries, remain the same. With four more days struck off, February will be a write-off month.”

Prateek Shetty, Hegde’s partner at 1522 — a chain of 10 pubs in Bangalore and one in Mumbai — and founder of The Reservoir, a pub in upscale Koramangala, said Valentine’s Day is when business picks up after a post-New Year lull.

“Business is generally slow after December. The dip is usually 30 per cent. But it picks up with Valentine’s Day,” Shetty said.

He stressed that the closures will also cost the state government in revenues. Karnataka levies 83 per cent tax on liquor, the highest in the country, and liquor sales rise by at least 50 per cent during Valentine’s Day.

“It takes 45 days to two months to plan for an event like Valentine’s Day. We have paid our decorators, booked bands and DJs, placed orders for exotic food and prepared our menu,” Shetty said. “We can’t expect our suppliers to return the advance. They will at best adjust the amount against future orders. But the bands will have nowhere to go since corporate gigs (the other viable option) are hard to come by.”

Karnataka is unique in disallowing liquor-serving restaurants to even stay open on dry days.