CHENNAI - The death toll from consumption of contaminated alcohol in southern India rose to 160 Wednesday with people still opting for the cheap but lethal brew, police said. The number of dead in Karnataka state has risen sharply from 53 on Monday to 115 with neighbouring Tamil Nadu accounting for 45 deaths, said Sanjay Arora, a senior Tamil Nadu police officer. "We held detailed discussions with top (Karnataka) officials and shared intelligence on locations where distillation of the brew is taking place," Arora said. The illegal distilleries were operating close to the border between the two states, frequented by (Tamil) farm labourers and other daily wage earners who were addicted to cheap brew, easily available in plastic sachets, he added. The three-phase provincial polls currently underway in Karnataka were also pushing up demand for cheap liquor with distillery owners mixing methyl alcohol with water for quick profits, Arora said. Politicians supplied their workers with food and cheap country-made alcohol for organising election meetings and helping with door-to-door campaigning, Arora said. Meanwhile, S.R Nayak, who heads Karnataka's human rights panel, blamed the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments for not cracking down on the distillers. "It is a lapse on the part of the authorities, who have not checked the illicit brewers," he told AFP by phone. Deaths from cheap alcohol are frequent in India and most victims are poor.